My Imperfect Reflection
by Ellyrianna
Summary: Yuffie, a fresh graduate from the AaHB, goes to Traverse Town, the rowdiest world in the galaxy, to start earning a salary. When she meets a 'lame lion', however, her whole objective changes. AU. Squffie, Claerith.
1. I: Advenere

**Disclaimer:** I found a penny in the street the other day. I gave it to my friend, who used it to buy an ice cream with some money she had. She ate the ice cream, and I was mad because I was hungry. It was strawberry flavored.  
  
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This was it. She was finally leaving.  
  
She had graduated with honors, an official ninja that was ready to roam the galaxies and save the poor, weak common people from the Heartless -- monsters that had invaded all of the worlds a few years ago. It had always been her dream to train at the Academy at Hollow Bastion, but the Heartless' arrival had made that decision final, and after three years in training, she was done. She could officially kill and get away with it (the best part of it, in her opinion), and was considered a legal adult despite the fact that she was still only seventeen. She was so happy that she could have screamed – which she did, after realizing that she could. Yuffie Kisaragi was free to do whatever she wanted with her life, now.  
  
Yuffie beamed as she handed her ticket to the bored official, who motioned vaguely towards the gummi ship that she had bought a ride on. With a yearly salary of 1,000 munny from the Academy in the trust that she was defending people that needed it with her new abilities, there was no limit on her spending – she could finally get a first-class seat on a spacious gummi that only would fly five people at once to better provide for the people rich enough to afford the seats in the first place. With just an old, beat-up backpack on her shoulders and a long, heavy trench coat over her simple, comfortable clothes, Yuffie felt like the free spirit she had always been, finally away from the strict rules of the Academy and out into the world. And where better to start her new life than Traverse Town, the wildest world in the galaxy?  
  
Tossing her backpack onto an overhead storage net, Yuffie flopped down onto a leather couch and put her feet up, enjoying the feeling of being her own person. She could do what she wanted, now, not what anyone else expected or demanded – and she was ready to start fighting these monsters for real. She had trained as a ninja, and had taken on the reputation at the Academy as the Greatest Female Ninja Ever, a title she had gladly adopted. She was the best, and she would prove it, as soon as she landed in Traverse.  
  
A few hours later on the gummi, however, and she wasn't feeling so excited. She was tired, her ears kept popping, and she couldn't get comfortable on her couch. She didn't know where the fourth person on the flight was (_Maybe there isn't one_, she thought to herself), but the other three tried to pretend she wasn't there, since they obviously thought themselves of a better breeding than her. They drank martinis and smoked expensive cigarettes as if daring her to complain about the smoke, and so Yuffie folded her arms and tried to sleep again, only to fall off of the couch every time she drifted off. The gummi really was worth the price, with food fit for a restaurant and pillows that didn't feel like cardboard, but she soon realized that she would have been a lot more comfortable among fighters like herself.  
  
Just when she was going to storm into the cockpit and yell at the pilot to make the snobs stop smoking, a tall, slender woman waltzed in from the spacious lavatory, her body swaying naturally, as if to draw even more eyes to her than her clothes already did. Her knee-high black boots elevated her at least two inches, if not more, while the black shorts she wore were so short that she might as well have not worn them at all. Her pink silk top was perfect for her fair skin, but her emerald eyes didn't match her appearance at all: they were kind, welcoming, and immediately settled on Yuffie. Her chestnut braid swung rapidly when she noticed something about the ninja, however, because she drew back sharply with an expression of revulsion on her face.  
  
"You're not going to Traverse dressed like that, I hope?" she asked, her soprano matching her eyes – not exactly soft, but kind and understanding, all though now it was laced with disgust.  
  
"Umm...why not?" Yuffie replied, sitting up and gesturing to her clothes. Sure, they were old, but Traverse Town couldn't be such a fashion hotspot that she'd be called out or anything, right?  
  
The woman sighed, pressing a hand to her forehead and shaking her head slightly. "Because, stupid, you'll get thrown out as soon as you step through the doors." Walking over to her, she placed a hand on one hip in a rattle of thin bracelets and surveyed her carefully, as if taking measurements with an invisible tape measure.  
  
"Why should I? At least I'm not attracting attention like _you_!" she spat, motioning to the scandalous outfit the other woman was wearing.  
  
Squinting and angling her head as if taking a measurement at a different place, perhaps around one arm, she responded, "That's just the thing. If you went in there dressed like that, you would attract attention – more than anyone else. Plus the Heartless are fiends for that sort of stuff. Only people that are afraid dress like that in Traverse." Raising an eyebrow, Yuffie was about to ask exactly what went on in the 'rowdiest world in the galaxy' when the woman gave a short nod and strode over to one of the overhead storage racks. "I think I have something that'll help you out – a_ lot_."  
  
Yuffie wrinkled up her nose. She didn't want some stranger's clothes – but if this woman was telling the truth, than she might as well accept the gift. Pulling up one patched sleeve of her coat, she realized that maybe her choice of dress might need a little upgrade. Only a few minutes later the taller woman returned, a pile of clothes in her arms. She thrust them at Yuffie and instructed her to change and come out to report any problems. Thinking vaguely that the pink-clad woman must give advice like this all time, Yuffie went into the luxurious lavatory and changed.  
  
It was definitely a change from her modest clothes from before. With khaki shorts as short as what the other woman was wearing and a green halter top that exposed most of her stomach, she hardly felt like the safe, secure ninja from the Academy, but...she also felt better. She was an adult; she could do what she liked. When she examined the knee-high white socks and the elbow-length fishnets in the mirror, she decided that she liked being an adult even more before adjusting a yellow cotton scarf around her neck and securing a silver bandana around her temples. Satisfied with the fact that she was making her own decisions and had no problems with the clothes, Yuffie returned to the cabin, spinning slowly for the other woman to inspect.  
  
"Better," she said at last, tapping her chin. "And I'm Aerith, by the way. Aerith Gainsborough." Extending a hand, Yuffie stopped spinning and clasped it.  
  
"Yuffie Kisaragi, the Greatest Female Ninja Ever," she stated proudly, planting her fists on her hips and craning her neck slightly to look up at Aerith. The disgusted look of before had left the older woman's face, replaced by a kind smile that crinkled up the freckles scattered across her nose. Somehow, seeing this softer side of the woman, Yuffie found it hard to believe that she would wear those clothes. "How are you so sure about Traverse Town?"  
  
"I live there," Aerith replied casually, walking back to the overhead storage and getting her bags down. Yuffie glanced at the ticket she had crumpled in one fist and realized that they would be landing soon. The millions of stars were slowing down from light speed to a less nauseating pace, and the faint glow of lights coming from the world could be seen out of the windows. "I went to Hollow Bastion to pick up something for my friend. Why are you going?" she asked suddenly, rounding on Yuffie with her bag strap in one hand.  
  
"I just graduated from the Academy and wanted to go some place that I'd feel like an adult," Yuffie answered defensively, hefting her backpack onto her shoulders after shoving her old clothes into it. She made a mental note to ditch them in a dumpster as soon as she landed.  
  
Aerith rolled her eyes and gave a small laugh. "Well, you certainly picked the right place," she muttered, flinging a stray piece of russet hair out of her eyes. "Where are you staying?" There was an announcement over the system into the cabin to warn the people of turbulence and that they should be careful, since the gummi was about to descend, but all of the passengers ignored it.  
  
Yuffie shifted her feet at the question. "I'm...not sure," she said finally, averting her navy blue eyes from Aerith's emerald green ones. She hadn't given more than two seconds worth of thought to that; just the fact that she was free had occupied her more than where she'd be living for who knows how long. Aerith, however, waved a dismissive hand good-naturedly.  
  
"Don't sweat it. No one who comes to Traverse does," she explained, leaning against one wall with the bag strap on her shoulder. She pulled a piece of black string out of a pocket on her single piece of luggage and tied it loosely around her neck with the bow drooping on her skin. "You can stay at my place. I'll have Cloud move in with me to make some space."  
  
"Cloud?" Yuffie questioned, grabbing onto the wall as the gummi began its rapid decline towards the world.  
  
"Call him my boyfriend," Aerith advised, effortlessly staying upright without the aid of a wall. Yuffie merely gave her a puzzled look, but there wasn't a lot speaking time left. The gummi landed smoothly outside of the Doors to the World, letting off the five passengers. The three rich people strode ahead and pushed through the doors with smug looks on their faces, while Aerith muttered about the 'upper-class subordinates' and kicked open the huge doors as she hefted a heavier package on one shoulder that Yuffie hadn't seen on the ship. Yuffie didn't have time to question her new friend's parcel, however, because as soon as she stepped into the world, her breath was completely stolen away.  
  
Neon lights flashed everywhere, from over shops and restaurants to highlighting bars and casinos. It didn't seem like a low-class type of place, but from a hurried explanation courtesy of Aerith as they pushed through the crowds, this was only the First District, as opposed to two others. The Second, she said, was much rowdier, while the Third was the most docile, with a small strip of houses and a nice, middle-class apartment building that surrounded a huge arena where monthly tournaments were held just to amuse the crowds. Aerith lived in the Second District, so they didn't spend too much time in the First; the older woman merely pointed out the best restaurant, simply called The Café, and a most convenient place called the Accessory Shop, where she said one of her best friends worked. Pushing through the heavy double doors to the Second District, Aerith pulled a short wooden stick from inside of her bag.  
  
Curious, Yuffie asked about it, and Aerith's simple was response was that it grew the length of her leg and sprouted a small green bulb on the flat top, which proceeded to glimmer gently. "I'm a healer," she said to Yuffie's unasked question, "but, around here, everybody needs something to defend them." Yuffie nodded, slightly confused by the woman's cryptic answer, and pulled a small rawhide pouch of shurikens out of her backpack and tying it on to the belt hanging at her waist. "C'mon."  
  
Aerith turned down the left-hand side of the street and didn't walk far before stopping under a gleaming yellow-and-orange sign that read 'Hotel'. She waited for Yuffie to jog up to her before pushing in the creaking doors and starting down the long, narrow hallway. Confused, Yuffie stopped, causing Aerith to stop and look back at her exasperatedly. "What is it now?"  
  
"I thought you lived in a house," Yuffie said slowly.  
  
"What? I never said that. I live in the Hotel. It's a lot easier, because I don't have to pay mortgage or anything and I get housekeeping to do everything I need doing. A couple of other people live in here, too, so don't be surprised if you get a knock on your door at midnight asking if you have any lavender-scented bath soap on you or anything like that," Aerith explained before proceeding to knock loudly on a red door embossed with small blue squares and Japanese symbols. There was a soft click, and she pushed on the handle, poking her head in and instructing, "Cloud, move your stuff over into the Blue Room. You can stay with me, 'cause there's a new girl that needs a place to stay. And the Yellow Room was just rented out a couple of days ago by some guy named Sora, so that's not an option." Cloud replied something Yuffie couldn't hear, but soon enough a sleep-looking blonde had shuffled into the hallway with a wicker hamper full to bursting with every assorted accessory. He yawned and glanced at her over the tall cowl of his indigo cloak before hoisting the hamper on his shoulder and going down the hall to what Yuffie could only assume was the Blue Room, the frayed hem of his cloak waving with his steps. "Here ya go," Aerith said dully, motioning towards the open door to the Red Room. "Home sweet home."  
  
"Thanks," Yuffie said honestly, shifting her backpack on her shoulders before walking into the room and looking around. It was small, but pretty, with a tall bed adorned with blue hangings and a low dresser with a slim mirror. Japanese scrollwork decorated the bed's headboard and could be spotted in various places throughout the room, so Yuffie felt pretty much at home, just like Aerith had said. She threw her backpack onto the bed and pivoted slowly, taking in her new surroundings.  
  
"Don't wait to call me if you need anything," Aerith said with only her head in the door. She gave one of her kind smiles and jerked her head down the hall to the Blue Room. "I have to go help the big baby down there get settled in, so could you give this to my friend next door in the Green Room? You have a connecting door over there" – she pointed – "but just knock first, or else you'll have a new enemy on your hands. His name's Leon, by the way," she added, pushing open the door wide enough to throw Yuffie the huge, lumpy package she'd been carrying since getting off of the gummi.  
  
"Alright," Yuffie agreed, even though Aerith had already closed the door and couldn't hear. Shifting the heavy bundle in her arms – it was long and all wrapped up in black cloth – she awkwardly made her way to the aforementioned door and managed to rap her knuckles on the lacquered wood. The person inside – Leon, Aerith had said – responded with something that sounded like "Come in", but Yuffie couldn't tell; however, she also couldn't wait, and kicked open the door with a happy smile on her face and the bundle in her arms. "One...thing...direct from Aerith Gainsborough through Yuffie Kisaragi to a Mr. Leon," she greeted mailman-like, and would have saluted him if not for the package bearing her down.  
  
It turned out that Mr. Leon was sitting on the edge of a bed in the corner, one leg stretched out needle-straight before him and the other lying casually next to it. He was sifting through a box of something and growled out a curse before slamming the lid on it and tossing it over his shoulder, which caused the box to hit the wall and the lid to pop open, spewing what was in it everywhere. It was an assortment of weird things – revolver rounds, a tin of polish, a few whetstones, a small can of oil, and several other items that he seemed to have no use for. When Yuffie took her eyes off of his supplies, she found herself looking at him.  
  
She dropped whatever she was carrying and felt her jaw fall open, and wouldn't have been surprised had it dropped all the way to her knees. This guy was gorgeous. Not like Academy brainy-boy 'oh, you look cute' pretty, but surf-magazine model beautiful. If not for his cold stare and unsmiling mouth, he would have made her faint; as it was, Yuffie was surprised that she wasn't sprawled out on the floor. Shoulder-length brown hair, icy blue eyes, the perfect body...Why wasn't this guy married? She couldn't tell if he was or not, truth to tell, since he wore gloves, but _still._ In her opinion, he should have had women draped all over him. Why was he sitting here all alone? All of those muscles had to be for fighting, and the scar down the bridge of his nose wasn't the result of being jumped.  
  
"Well?" he demanded, glaring at her like a lion at its prey. She couldn't help but yelp slightly before bending to pick up the bundle and carrying it over to him. She moved to place it in his lap, but he gave her the look of death, so she immediately reconsidered her course of action and instead put it beside him on the bed. He moved slightly, but also awkwardly, as if he used to be a graceful ballroom dancer that had one of his legs amputated. Of course, that theory was completely wrong, since this man could never be a ballroom dancer and both of his legs were still intact.  
  
Pulling off the cloth, an expression of nothingness came over his features, wiping the anger away. Yuffie quickly reasoned that that must be his version of happiness, since it certainly looked a lot nicer than staring at his gloomy, I'll-hate-the-world-if-I-want-to look. Switching her eyes from his face (which was very nice to look at) to what she'd been carrying, Yuffie had to work hard not to drop her jaw again.  
  
He was gently moving his gloved fingers over a gleaming silver blade which, oddly enough, was attached to the hilt and trigger of a revolver. A lion was embossed on the broadest of the flat planes of the sword-blade, but the handle of the revolver gleamed from being polished until it shone like the sun. Yuffie was astounded. Where had he acquired such a weapon?  
  
"What are you still doing here?"  
  
Her head jerked up, and she stupidly pointed a finger at her chest and mouthed 'Me?' He gave a curt, cruel nod, and Yuffie took an involuntary step backwards before realizing what she'd done. Why should she be afraid of this guy? She was the Greatest Female Ninja Ever; he was some lazy bum who made women do his work for him (what work she was still unsure of). She opened her mouth to tell him so, but suddenly his hands grasped the handle and spun the blade towards her, the tip just about to drive into her chest if she had taken that step forward. Yuffie couldn't help it; she let out a whimper and swallowed hard.  
  
"Tell Aerith I owe her one." She gave a hurried, hasty nod, afraid to move in any direction for fear of being skewered alive. "Now get out of my room." This time she did salute before turning tail and running back through the connected door. She slammed the lacquered door shut and leaned hard against it, panting. Her heart was pounding like a drum, as if he would come through the door by shear force of will, and it took all of her reserve to calm herself down.  
  
"Breathe, Yuffie. He's a lame tiger. You're the Greatest Female Ninja Ever. It's okay. Breathe, breathe, breathe..." she repeated over and over, a soothing mantra to calm herself down. Eventually she managed to make it back to the bed, where her backpack sat on the red comforter with her old clothes making the seams bulge. Realizing she really, _really _wanted to sleep, Yuffie carefully unfolded the scarf from around her neck and slid the bandana off of her forehead before laying them out neatly on the side table next to the bed, something very un-Yuffie-like, since she was not at all a neat person. Next came her pouch of shurikens, followed by the socks, fishnets, gloves, and shoes, until she was just sitting on the bed in the halter top and the too-short shorts.  
  
Falling on her back with her legs dangling off of the end of the bed, Yuffie closed her eyes and breathed deeply, her arms twitching next to her. An adult. The title didn't seem so attractive anymore, nor did the possibility that she'd never see her friends again. At least she had Aerith help her out in a jam, now, but how long did relationships forged on a gummi ship last? She really had no idea. Deciding that she was overworking herself with stupid thoughts, Yuffie allowed herself to finally give in to her first night sleeping as an adult.  
  
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Heya! Two stories at once? It won't be that hard, really, since Pieces of Light never got the big turnout I was hoping for, so updates won't be demanded. Heck, I don't think this'll get the publicity I want, but...it was worth a shot. I'm really trying to lay off of the detail here, so I expect no complaints! –stern look— Oh, and what's the deal with Aerith's clothes? Hey, I think she's got a bad side deep down inside; everybody does. And yeah, there will be Sora/Kairi and Cloud/Aerith in this – probably earlier than the Squiffie! What a surprise.  
  
Please, make an author happy and review for her? It makes her feel sooo much better that she's liked...sort of. Please? –puts on Inuyasha ears-- 


	2. II: Confringere

**Disclaimer:** Wolf's Rain is a really good show. I thought it would be stupid, but after watching it on Saturday night, I realized that it's pretty good entertainment. Kiba's voice sounds like Vash's from Trigun, but the two voice actors are different. Now isn't that a little odd?  
  
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"Blue Rhapsody, to your left. There's a Dark Ball behind you, too," Aerith added, noting the Heartless that was grinning maniacally behind Yuffie's right ear. The ninja swore something and somersaulted away from both before standing and launching a shuriken at the Dark Ball, which then imploded in a flare of darkness and vanished. With her yellow scarf secured tightly around her eyes like a blindfold, Yuffie really had no idea what she was doing; she was reacting on instinct and Aerith's advice with the added bonus of her own hearing to give her some reference. It had been her own idea to train without her eyesight, since the alleys of Traverse were dark and you couldn't always see your enemy, but now she was regretting that choice.  
  
After releasing a shuriken that got rid of the Blue Rhapsody, Yuffie stowed the rest of her stars away in the pouches that hung from her belt and took the scarf away from her eyes. She blinked in the sudden brightness of neon signs and gleaming lights and took a reflexive step backwards before she saw Aerith coming down a cement stairway. The older woman walked into the belly of the Second District and motioned Yuffie over to a bench before handing her a red bowl piled high with rice and complete with a few small onigiri perched on top of the heap.  
  
Licking her lips, Yuffie sat down cross-legged on the ground in front of the bench and took the chopsticks Aerith offered before diving hungrily into her food. The older woman gave her a look that the ninja couldn't recognize before starting on her own breakfast, although she seemed to be pushing aside more than what she was eating. After a few minutes of silence, Yuffie ventured around a mouthful of rice, "So, I gave that gun sword thing to the guy in the room next to mine last night, and he said that he owes you one. Who is he?"  
  
Yuffie had already grilled Aerith on the rest of the world while she was training, along with Cloud, the new Hotel resident, and just about everything else that went at least partially through her mind last night. She hadn't thought to ask about Aerith's friend Leon, though, until now.  
  
Aerith took a breath before answering, her emerald eyes staring into the window of a shop advertising slinky tops like the ones the older woman wore. Placing her chopsticks neatly across the rim of her bowl, she finally answered, "He was a fighter, once. He came to Traverse as a graduate from the Academy at Hollow Bastion two years ago, when the Heartless first came, and did a really good job of clearing them out. One day there was this huge attack of them when he was out really late at night, and they caught him off-guard, so he was a little messy in trying to clean them all up. I don't think I need to tell you that it didn't work out well," she said, looking at Yuffie.  
  
A graduate from the AaHB? It looked like she had a kindred spirit in this town after all. The ninja shook her head, motioning for Aerith to continue. The brunette nodded, picking up her chopsticks and making swirly patterns in her rice with them as she spoke. "Well, one of those big armored ones – Defenders – slammed its shield into his leg and shattered his left kneecap. He got rid of all the Heartless, but by the time I found out that he'd hurt himself, it was too late to fix it with magic. He couldn't fight anymore, since that one leg wouldn't work properly – he'd try to jump or dodge, and it would give out under him, or would just crack at weird times. After a couple of days patching him up every few hours, Cloud and I convinced him that he couldn't fight anymore. Since then he just lays around in the hotel all day, taking care of his weapon and moping."  
  
Yuffie made a face. She could easily see how such a hot-tempered guy would make a good fighter, but laying around and feeling sorry for yourself was really childish. Not that she expected anyone to tell him this; he had almost decapitated her for no reason last night, and she'd hate to see what he'd do to her if she _gave_ him a reason.  
  
"He sounds like a real baby," she said, swallowing the last of her rice. Aerith laughed, and Yuffie spun around, brandishing her chopsticks at the other woman. "Hey, don't laugh at me. Anyone who just lies around in a hotel for two years really has to be a baby." Aerith shook her head, her giggles ending.  
  
"He didn't lie around in the hotel for two years," she corrected, taking Yuffie's empty bowl and stacking it under her own, which was still half full. The ninja grabbed one of Aerith's rice balls and ate it before the healer had a chance to comment. "He only broke his kneecap six months ago."  
  
Yuffie wrinkled her nose in distaste. Why hadn't Aerith told her that in the first place? "Well, if he doesn't fight, then why were you bringing his weapon back to him?"  
  
Aerith rolled her emerald green eyes. "That's just the point, Yuffie," she said, standing. The ninja followed at her side, slowly going back up the concrete stairs and heading back towards the doors that lead to the First District. A few teenagers sitting around a lamppost were playing poker and ignoring the boxes of cigarettes at their heels, while three women dressed in a similar fashion to Aerith were toying with a modest-looking man and making him blush red enough to be a rose. People were always hanging out in the streets in the Second District; unlike the other two, the Second never turned out its lights, which hadn't done anything to help Yuffie's sleep the night before. She had ended up tearing the draperies off of the bed in the Red Room and hanging them over the windows just to make it semi-dark. "He doesn't fight, so it gets rusty, and occasionally needs a remodel, or whatever you call it."  
  
"Does he ever come outside?" Yuffie asked. She wasn't exceptionally interested in this guy, but it was better than walking in silence with a woman that she hardly knew.  
  
"For breakfast," Aerith replied, pushing open the oaken doors that lead into the First District. Yuffie followed her through a set of smaller doors on the top floor of the Accessory Shop and was surprised to find a bunch of teddy bear-like creatures with wings and large noses roaming around a huge fireplace with lots of machinery on top of it. Aerith ignored them, so they weren't a threat, and dropped down a square hatch into what Yuffie assumed was the lower half of the shop. The ninja followed the older woman's example and leapt without fear, landing in a fairly sizable ground floor with a large fireplace and a few couches.  
  
As Yuffie sat down on one of the black couches and propped her feet on the other, Aerith sauntered over to the counter and leaned on the yellow stone with her chin propped on her hands. A man came in from a back room with a cigarette in his mouth and a mop of yellow hair, complete with a sour expression and his hands placed strategically on his hips. "Yeah? What do ya wanna mooch offa me today, Aerith?"  
  
Aerith truly was an expert at getting things from this guy, as it seemed. She slowly raised herself onto the surface, leaning back against a glass case with a crystal inside and stretching her legs across the counter without seeming to make any noise. The man's eyebrows climbed almost into his hair as he watched her.  
  
"Cid, you know I never take anything from you that you don't want to give," Aerith said in a pouty voice, her lower lip popping out reflexively. Yuffie folded her eyes and grinned, watching the spectacle and trying not to laugh. "And I know you have more Ifrit's Powder than you know what to do with, so it wouldn't be a loss if you gave me a can."  
  
Cid ran a hand through his hair, obviously finding it hard to resist The Lip. Aerith leaned forward on the counter, apparently thinking that her sultry voice wasn't going to win this battle. Batting her eyelashes so much that it made her seem almost spastic, she asked in a meek voice, "Please?" Cid covered his eyes and muttered something that sounded like a curse before he disappeared into the back room. Yuffie shot Aerith a concerned look, but the healer merely winked at her and waited patiently for the man to return. When he did, he was carrying a tall red can with a picture of fire embossed over it and the words Ifrit's Powder written across it. With a quick kiss on one of his ears, Aerith snatched up the can and hopped off of the counter, darting through the Accessory Shop doors.  
  
"Yeah, yeah," Cid mumbled, turning bending to get something from under the counter. Shaking her head, Yuffie followed Aerith, who was waiting for her at the doors to the Second District. Pressing the can into her hand, Aerith jerked her thumb in the direction of the Third District doors and explained hastily, "I gotta go meet Cloud in the arena now. He's dueling a couple of guys he ripped off when he got drunk two days ago, and I know he's going to need my Cure spells. Could you give that to Leon? Thanks," she said without waiting for an answer before jogging away and adjusting her pink silk top so that it hung even lower on her arms.  
  
"Why do I get stuck with all of his chores? I don't even know him!" Yuffie shouted at Aerith's retreating back, but the healer didn't answer her. Growling in frustration, Yuffie stalked back into the Second District, ignoring a few leering men and the teenagers from before that offered to deal her into their game and making her way to the hotel. Kicking open the door to the Green Room from the hallway, Yuffie was just about to hurl the can into the room – when she saw a bare-chested, slightly shocked and thoroughly enraged Leon standing next to the bed.  
  
Her eyes went reflexively from the perfect form of his chest – the sight of which she savored – to his left leg, which was bent slightly. She assumed that all of his weight was put on his right leg, or else he wouldn't have been able to stand without looking lopsided, but she didn't have time to contemplate the matter. He threw down the white T-shirt he'd been about to put on and stalked over to her (surprisingly well for someone with a shattered kneecap), one gloved finger in her face before she had even said a word.  
  
"What are you doing here? Did you ever learn to knock?" His voice was low and lethal, as if he was getting ready to kill her and was gloating like all of the stupid villains did. [A/N: If you've seen Van Helsing, you'll know what I'm talking about.] His eyes saw the can clutched in her fingers, and the hand that wasn't in her face snatched it away from her. "Why didn't Aerith bring this? Answer me!"  
  
Yuffie fought down an instinctive whimper and craned her neck slightly to look up at him. Planting her hands on her hips, she replied, "Giving that to you, yes, and she had to take care of Cloud. Happy?"  
  
"No," he spat, taking his finger out of her face and walking back across the room. She detected the slightest of gimps from the left leg, but that seemed good compared to the damage Aerith had described. "Why should I be happy about a little girl breaking into my room and seeing me half naked?"  
  
Yuffie threw up her arms in exasperation. "You're not half naked! So you've got your shirt off – big deal! Haven't you ever had a woman besides your mom look at you not fully-clothed?" She knew as soon as the words were out of her mouth that she was going to regret it. She swallowed hard as he spun around, his eyes gleaming like blue ice.  
  
"Get out of my room." She didn't move; she was rooted to the spot with fear. "I said leave!" Yuffie had the strange sensation that last night's confrontation with him was being replayed, only in the daytime hours. There was no sun in this world; the sky was always covered with stars.  
  
"You don't even know who I am!" she burst out, her hands balling into fists at her sides.  
  
"Good!" he shouted, throwing the can of Ifrit's Powder onto the bed behind him. "And I never want to! Now get – out – of – my – room." Yuffie opened her mouth to contradict him again, but when he roared, "Now!" she gave a frightened squeak and turned tail out of the door. She ran to where the door to the Red Room was and managed to open the door without shaking too hard before she bolted it shut and slammed a tall stool from the bathroom against the handle of the connecting door the Green Room and locking that one just as tightly. She then moved into the center of the room and stood with two of her largest shurikens brandished before her, fully prepared to defend herself – before she remembered that he couldn't fight. Yuffie felt herself go cold for a minute before she dropped her weapons and realized her shoulders were shaking with laughter. She found it funny, really – she was afraid of a stunned bear! Dropping onto the floor, she put her hands to the small of her back to ease the pressure there from how hard she was laughing, but soon curled in on herself, quivering with mirth.  
  
A sudden knock on her door brought her still giggling to her feet, despite the fact that she grabbed a shuriken as she rose. "W-who is it?" she asked around her laughter.  
  
It wasn't who she had expected. "It's Sora, from down the hall in the Yellow Room. Are you okay? I heard yelling and stuff, so I thought Leon might have done something to you, or...something," the boy finished lamely, and Yuffie could almost see him hanging his head in defeat.  
  
"No, I'm fine," she said after managing to contain her amusement. "Thanks anyway, though." Sora yelled "Okay!" through the door before jogging away, and Yuffie shook her head, still enthralled by the fact that she was afraid of a guy who had never taken his shirt off in front of a girl before.  
  
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"Its okay, Cloud; I know you're tired, but you've gotta make it to the Blue Room. It's just three more doors down – that's it, one foot in front of the other..." Yuffie shook her head as she closed the door to the Red Room over Aerith's fading voice and started toward the fourth door in the room – the one that led onto the balcony overlooking a small drainage canal that lead into a sewer behind some bars. It wasn't exactly a scenic view, but it was better than being cooped up inside. Cloud had won the fight, but had gotten pretty banged up in the process, and the healer had morphed from Sultry!Aerith into Sweet!Aerith in record time. Closing the embossed door behind her, Yuffie leaned her elbows on the cement railing and let the cool breeze whip her chin-length raven hair around her face.  
  
A door closed somewhere to her left, and Yuffie instinctively looked in that direction. Leon had emerged from the Green Room to stand on his own balcony, shirt firmly on and overlapped by a short leather coat. His shoulder-length, spiky brown hair rustled slightly in the wind, and Yuffie couldn't help it – she sighed dreamily, staring at his perfect, lion- resembling figure in the glow of the stars and moon. He turned his head slightly (Must have super-sonic hearing, too, Yuffie thought with an inward groan) and saw her, immediately hardening his eyes and going back inside. Yuffie shook her head slightly.  
  
There was simply no getting through to some people.  
  
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This is gonna be longer than my usual stories, but will have a lot of fluff. I foresee the fluff coming in sometime around chapter five or six, but only in small doses at first. Anybody order Fluff-To-Go? –dons McDonald's uniform and holds out a take-home bag— See you next chapter, then!  
  
Oh, and Yuffie calls Squall a lame tiger in the first chapter. Typo on my part – that phrase wasn't supposed to come in until this chapter. And an onigiri is a Japanese rise ball with a meat-paste inside. (I hope I got that definition correct.)  
  
Elly is happy! She has eight reviews for her first chapter! Shout-outs go to: Doomboy2000, Deplora (who I worship – she reviews all of my stories! –bows- and I love her Blind Instinct), pingpong867 (who is also a really cool person and awesome author), Annjirika, Kawaii Wrestler, Emrelle Elendal, SummonerMomo, and BroncosCheer-literofpepsi for all being just plain awesome and reviewing me! –passes out Squall plushies—  
  
Do you want a **Squall Plushie**? Simply click that little blue button down there, and this fabulous **Squall Leonhart Plush Toy** could be yours free! 


	3. III: Admonare

**Disclaimer:** Elly cut her hair. It used to be down to her shoulder-blades, but she cut it off. Not it's at her chin. It's really short. She likes to shake it. It's fun to shake. Elly also sprained her ankle playing soccer. Soccer is a dangerous sport. Be careful when you play it.  
  
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"...in my room!"  
  
"Calm down, Leon. It's not that big of a deal."  
  
"Yes it is! I've been defiled!"  
  
"You just need to get out more, is all."  
  
"And have people laugh at me? I don't think so."  
  
Yuffie sat up groggily, hands over her ears and her eyes gleaming angrily. When she checked the clock on her nightstand and realized it was only 8:32 in the morning, she felt like screaming. Who had woken her up this early? One of the voices outside her door sounded remarkably like Aerith, and since her friend had called the other voice Leon, she supposed that that was who the other one was. Grumbling about loud neighbors, she slid out of bed and staggered over to the door, throwing it open and blinking at the sight of a still-in-pajamas Aerith and a disgruntled (and obviously really angry) Leon.  
  
"Couldja keep it down? I'm trying to sleep!" she groaned, rubbing her eyes with the back of one hand. Leon rounded on her, surprisingly well, she noticed with disdain.  
  
"I wouldn't have to keep it down if it wasn't for _you_! Breaking and entering is a crime, you know, and I could have you arrested for it," he finished smugly, crossing his arms. Aerith sighed, the long chestnut braid down her back swinging. The low grey sweatpants and short pink tank top she was wearing was considerably more modest than her normal clothes, but then again Yuffie would have had trouble sleeping in that stuff, too.  
  
Yuffie threw up her arms in outrage. "Arrested for giving you something that you ordered like a page boy? I think that counts under generous, if I'm not mistaken!" she shouted, planting her hands on her hips and glaring at him. (She smirked inwardly; she glared very well for someone at least a head shorter than him.) "Oh, wait, Mr. Close-Minded, maybe it is an offense – since you've obviously never had another woman in your room before!"  
  
If it was possible for a stone to look embarrassed, he pulled it off, if only by narrowing his eyes heatedly. "Whatever," he muttered before he stalked back into his room and slammed the door shut. And yes, Yuffie realized, it was possible to stalk with a shattered kneecap.  
  
Aerith ran a hand down her face in exasperation. "Do you have fun pissing him off? Because he takes it out on me, you know," she added, wrinkling her nose in what could have been either anger or frustration. Shaking her head one last time, she walked back down the hall to the Blue Room, from which Cloud's snores could be heard clearly through the open door.  
  
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"Hmmm, lessee...Dry cleaning, scissors, a bottle of wine (Wine and scissors? I'd hate to see what this guy does with all this stuff, Yuffie thought to herself as she relayed the things she'd agreed with Aerith to bring to him), and a corkscrew. Is that it? Did I get it all?" she called through the door. She had remembered to knock before she started saying all of his things, but she still didn't think it would do much good.  
  
There was a grumbling on the other side of the door before he finally spoke. "Yeah, come in," Leon said grudgingly, and Yuffie kicked open the Green Room door with her foot since her arms were so full of his stuff. She walked into the room to see Leon himself sitting at the round table a couple of feet from the bed with his bad leg up on the second chair and one hand tangled in his dark hair. It looked like he was reading something, but she couldn't really tell what it was. It looked thick, at any rate.  
  
She tossed his dry cleaning into a basket besides a chest of drawers near the door and walked over to put the scissors, wine, and corkscrew down on the table he was at. He looked up at her, and for the first time his eyes didn't look particularly angry; he seemed a little annoyed, though. About what she couldn't be certain; this guy had more mood swings than a woman.  
  
Yuffie turned to walk out before she noticed his weird weapon propped up in the corner of the room next to the door that lead onto his balcony. It gleamed as if freshly polished, and she couldn't see any of the scratches that had to be on it from the years of fighting Aerith claimed this guy had, so he took his time in buffing it. Why he would care so much about a weapon he couldn't use was beyond her, and she asked as much.  
  
He sighed, closing his book. He obviously couldn't concentrate with her there, but she thought that even before she came in he was having problems. "Because if I don't keep it in good condition and they find some way to fix my leg in the near future when I can still use it, then I want to be able to." He turned back to the book, flipping a couple of pages. She blinked, expecting him to say more, but he didn't.  
  
"Well...couldn't you find a way to fight even with your busted knee?" Yuffie tried. At the Academy, if you hurt yourself, you were still expected to train; nobody got a day off. Why couldn't Leon find out a way to help himself?  
  
His head whipped around and his eyes blazed. Yuffie refused to let herself swallow, but it took effort. "Don't you think I've tried that? I'm not stupid!"  
  
"I never said you were!" Yuffie said hastily. "I'm just saying...maybe you could find a trainer to help you or something. Since you seem to love fighting so much, it would be a waste to see you stop." She couldn't help the sympathy lacing her voice, and at the way his face contorted at hearing it, she was surprised that steam wasn't coming out of his ears.  
  
"You think I haven't tried that?" He wasn't shouting, for a change, but his voice was dangerously low, and Yuffie unconsciously forced her back straighter.  
  
"Something different," Yuffie insisted. "You need to try something different. Like, a trainer who's not paid, and who doesn't sit there and make you do stretches. You need a fighter to teach a fighter." He blinked once, and then did a slow once-over of her from her toes to her eyes.  
  
"You mean someone like you," he said levelly, with no emotions showing. She knew she was putting herself in the middle of a lion's cage with nothing to defend herself, but she answered anyway, and was extremely proud of how serious she sounded.  
  
"Yes."  
  
There was a long pause between the two of them, with him staring hard at her as if trying to decide whether or not she was worthy of training him and her trying hard not to shift uncomfortably under his eyes. They were creepy, staring at them too long, but also really beautiful, in a creepy kind of way...  
  
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he nodded. It was the barest movement of his head in a north-south twitch, but it was still a nod, still an acceptance of her offer. "Fine," he said coldly, turning around and opening his book again. "But if you treat me like a child, I swear that I'll skewer you on a streetlamp." Yuffie's eyes widened to saucers and she swallowed hard. Well, there was the incentive to be careful with him.  
  
"Agreed," she said, and had to stop herself from bowing in respect as she soundlessly opened the connecting door to her room and slumped against it. What had she gotten herself into?  
  
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Sora was unsure about living alone in a hotel with a bunch of adults by himself, but he was on an internship as a bodyguard for one of the casinos and couldn't afford a house in the Third District or one of the nice apartments, and had had to settle for the hotel in the uproarious Second District. With his hands behind his head, Sora lay on the bed on the side of the Yellow Room, staring at the ceiling. His job didn't start until 6:00 that night, so he spent the whole day sitting around. He was wary to go outside; the first time he had when he wasn't carrying his weapon he'd been jumped, and that hadn't been good. Now he stayed inside until he could leave in his uniform and with his weapon at his side and not be bothered, but it was still boring.  
  
"I hate all this stone and concrete," he sighed melodramatically. "I want to work on a beach."  
  
The dinging of the bell at the front desk alerted the sleepy manager on duty, and Sora listened absently through the walls as the two voices – faint, but he could hear the tones – argued about the rooms. Deciding that he had nothing better to do, Sora poked his head out of his door and saw a rather short young woman arguing fiercely with the manager, her finger in his face.  
  
"I'm sure you have a room empty that you're not telling me about!" she said angrily, planting her hands on her hips. The manger waved his hands in denial.  
  
"I don't! Now get outta here before you make my paying customers mad!" he said, pointing back towards the entrance. She shook her head, making her reddish hair sway.  
  
"I know your kind. You just don't want me to stay because it looks like I don't have any munny. Well, look at this." She pulled a fat bag off of the floor by her feet and emptied it on the counter, spilling out enough munny gems to buy her a penthouse in that apartment building. "Now are you gonna give me a room?"  
  
"Look, kid," the manager explained impatiently, gesturing towards the closed Red, Green, and Blue doors, as well as the half-opened Yellow door. "All of my rooms are filled. Maybe in a couple of days something will be empty, but right now I don't have any room for you. Maybe another hotel –"  
  
Sora stepped out of his room, a serious expression on his face. "You know, I've got space in my room, if you don't mind bunking up," he offered. The girl's indigo eyes lit up, and she clapped her hands once. Gathering the munny back into her sack, she rounded on him.  
  
"Perfect. My bags are by the front door, and I would like first bathroom privileges in the morning, if you don't mind. Oh, and my name's Kairi," she added, smiling. Sora grinned himself; she had a pretty smile.  
  
"Sora. I work at night, so you can have the bed then, but I wanna sleep during the day, so if you could keep it down...?" Kairi nodded impatiently, waving one hand towards her bags as she came to the door of the Yellow Room, peeking inside.  
  
"Sure, of course. I have a job as a waitress at The Café and part-time at a casino, but during the day. I won't bother you. It's like this was written in the stars," she exclaimed, ducking into the room. Realizing that he was supposed to get her bags, Sora started towards the main door. Well, at least he wouldn't be bored anymore.  
  
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It was short. Whatever. I got the S/K started, at any rate, and at least the plot's moving, however small-ish. Oh, and...  
  
A HUGE thank-you to all of my reviewers! You guys are the best! Those plushies are in back order, now. Skeledude 12 wanted a Yuffie plushie and SummonerMomo wanted a Cloud plushie, so those guys get their requests cause they're awesome. A friend of mine named Roheryn (look her up and read her Lord of the Rings fanfiction – it's hilarious!) drew the Squall plushie, so this is what he looks like: h t t p :www[dot]amethyst- dragon[dot]net/turtle/art/squallplush[dot]GIF  
  
Just replace the [dot]s with real .'s and you can see him in all his Rawr-y goodness! Thanks to everyone, and I'm glad you're enjoying the story! 


	4. IV: Conere

**Disclaimer**: Hugh Jackman won a Tony last night! –glee- He also did a nifty dance in tight yellow pants. He should wear tight yellow pants all the time, although I do like his white tank top in X-Men. He made a joke regarding X-Men because Marie/Rogue was presenting. He said: "And here to present is the only other mutant in the theatre, ---." I don't know her real name, but the joke was something to that effect, and I started laughing 'cause I knew what he meant.

* * *

3:50 in the morning. Yuffie couldn't seem to understand that. Why would anyone in their right mind knock on her door at 3:50 in the morning? She knew very well that it was always dark outside, so it really didn't seem to look like a different part of the day, but she just wanted to sleep, and whoever was tapping on her door at this hour was going to get a dose of exactly what she could do. She didn't have that stupid certificate that she'd graduated for nothing.  
  
Groaning and rubbing her bare arm over her indigo eyes, Yuffie tottered out of bed and managed to get to the door without falling over, which was something she really wanted to do. _It's too early for this,_ she kept telling herself as she grabbed a grey bandana from a hook on the wall and used it to keep her messy black hair away from her face as she opened the door, squinting at the light from the hallway. She blinked a few times and saw a girl even shorter than her standing in front of her and looking really nervous about something.  
  
"Yeah?" Yuffie asked without any enthusiasm whatsoever. The only thought on her mind at that minute was bed and that this little brat was stealing it from her.  
  
The girl was hopping from foot to purple-slippered foot, wringing her hands and making her chin-length red hair shake. "Do you have any lavender soap?" she asked in a rush, looking around anxiously.  
  
Yuffie blinked. She blinked again, for that matter. And then, without any thought to the girl standing in front of her, she threw back her head and laughed.

* * *

Bursting into the Green Room through the connecting door, Yuffie found Leon sitting on the bed with his weapon laying flat over his legs. He looked both impatient and angry, and the Greatest Female Ninja Ever sudden felt like the Smallest Female Ninja Ever. Shaking her head to get rid of stupid thoughts, she clapped her gloved hands loudly and gave him the brightest smile she could find.  
  
"Okay! Let's get started," she began, keeping her voice uplifted. "I figured we could start in the arena in the Third District, since they're not holding any tournaments or fights there today. Nice and spacious, lots of room to –" She was cut off abruptly with his resounding monotone.  
  
"No."  
  
Groaning, she threw up her arms and turned halfway around. "This is never gonna work if you keep contradicting me!" she told him angrily, but when he simply returned her glares levelly, she sighed and folded her arms. "Okay. Why?"  
  
"Do I need a reason?" he spat, standing suddenly and starting towards the balcony door, shouldering the gunblade as he went.  
  
"Yes!" she insisted, following him stubbornly. He turned around sharply, swinging the bared point of his weapon dangerously close to her face. She jumped back reflexively, her training kicking in (_Took it long enough,_ she grumbled inwardly) just in the nick of time.  
  
He gnawed on his lower lip for a minute before pushing open the green door that led onto the balcony and muttering, "You frustrate me." Yuffie could have sworn her eyes popped out of her head.  
  
"_I_ frustrate _you_?" she bellowed, following him out onto the small stone overhang. He carefully put his bad leg over the cement railing and followed it with his good one before lowering the gunblade beside him and jumping down lightly onto the pavement, his bad knee pinned upward. Yuffie leapt lightly over the edge of the balcony and landed in front of him, hands on her hips. "_I'm_ trying to help _you,_ and you automatically don't give me a chance! Just...get over yourself!" she finished disgustedly, turning around.  
  
Leon stood there, thunderstruck. That..._cretin_ ...had just told him to get over himself? What about her, and her I'm-so-much-better-than-you attitude? He could have screamed right about then, but that would mean losing his only chance at ever (_Possibly,_ his conscious reminded him nastily) fighting again. He visibly forced himself to calm down, breathing hard and with his eyes closed.  
  
"...Fine. I'll answer you," he said in his most non-threatening voice, and Yuffie, stunned, turned back around to look at him. They were standing in front of the ugly sewer drain she'd noticed when she first came to Traverse Town, and she realized that there was a square archway with metal bars covering it at the far end, leading off into a wall.  
  
"I'm listening," she said in the best imitation of 'diffident' as she could manage, and tried a lofty look. At his sharp glare, though, she let the mask fall.  
  
"I don't want to..._excite_ people. The people that live here used to get really pumped to see me out here beating up Heartless, and to let them see me again, with my weapon and gear and everything, would just make them think things that aren't exactly true," he said emotionlessly, starting towards the arch. Yuffie followed, curious.  
  
"Yet," she persisted, a smile on her face. When he gave her a questioning look, she said, "They aren't exactly true yet." He rolled his eyes and waded into the sewer water and up to the bars. Grimacing, Yuffie hopped into the dirty water and walked beside him, watching for a minute as he slid through the spaced-out bars before following herself.  
  
They came into a dark, dingy cavern that was all water, Yuffie realized a little too late. She sank like lead until she realized she had to swim, so she kicked off from the dirt floor and propelled herself through the surface, gasping. Leon was swimming easily towards a rocky island at the back of the cavern, the gunblade grasped in one hand.  
  
"You coulda warned me!" she shouted, swimming after him with an indignant look on her face. She scrambled up onto the island while he was wringing his white shirt out, and she immediately latched onto one of the lamps that were lighted at a weird doorway. Leon wrung out his hair over the stones as well, and Yuffie giggled; he had more hair than she did, she realized, and was overcome by laughter for a few minutes.  
  
She realized that he was staring at her oddly, so she stopped laughing and realized that she was almost all dry because of how close she was to the lamp. Clearing her throat and stepping back from the heat, Yuffie pulled a few shurikens of different sizes out of the rawhide pouch at her belt and motioned for him to stand a few yards opposite her, horizontal across the rocks.  
  
"Okay," she started, and flung the shurikens out in a neat line in front of her – horizontal, again. She motioned for him to do the same, and, with a brief look of annoyance, he gingerly laid his precious gunblade out on the rocks in front of him. "No weapons just yet. First you need to warm up a little bit. Nothing stupid like jumping jacks or anything, but just do a couple ten-second six inches and windmills and you should be fine."  
  
He raised an eyebrow. "Six inches? Windmills? You think I kept cutesy names for my exercises?" Yuffie blushed furiously at the comment. "Just tell me what they are – normally." Balling her fists at her sides, the ninja lowered herself without care onto the rocks, laying flat out on her back, and lifted her two legs at the same time about six inches off of the ground.  
  
"It's really not that hard, hot stuff," she said to the ceiling, and she could almost feel his anger. She grinned inwardly. Triumph! "Just what it sounds like. Unless you've been laying around so long that you forget how to warm up?" She knew she hit a chord with that – she heard shuffling, and when she turned her head to the side, he had mimicked her position, although his bad leg was about three inches less than his good. She sighed. "I'm trying to get you back into shape, and that includes your leg." Bounding up, Yuffie leaped over the line of shurikens and his gunblade and kneeled in front of his feet so that she could see into his face. She grasped a hold of both of his ankles and lifted them both the same distance off of the ground.  
  
"That hurts," he said bluntly.  
  
Yuffie shrugged dismissively. "Yeah, I know. It's supposed to. That's what's called training, Leon. If you wanna get back to what you used to be – or at least close to what you used to be – you have to deal with it."  
  
He didn't say anything for about two minutes, but she noticed that he was growing considerably paler, and it wasn't because of the stress of holding up his legs at so short a distance. Sighing, Yuffie lowered his ankles back onto the rocks and stood up. She leaned over him, offering a hand, which he eyed suspiciously for a minute before accepting.  
  
"Pretty good," she remarked honestly, dusting her hands off on her shorts. She had to remember to thank Aerith tonight when they went out for dinner with Cloud; everybody did lay off of her, while when she saw someone wearing the kind of clothes she had when she'd first come, they were usually attacked either by people or Heartless. "Two minutes is a lot for someone who's never done it before."  
  
"What do you mean, never done it before?" he snapped, his eyes blazing. "It was just never called that where I trained – in a real military, in a real army, with real..." He broke off, turning around so that his back faced her.  
  
Running a hand through her hair, Yuffie took a deep breath before offering something again. "Okay, enough warming up. Grab your weapon," she instructed, going back to where she'd lain out her shurikens and gathering them up before tucking them back into her pouch. Leon grabbed his gunblade and turned to face her, obviously wanting to start the real fighting. Pulling out a medium-sized star, the ninja closed her eyes and willed it to elongate – which it did, pulsing with purple-and-pink energy. Running one finger over the sharp edge, Yuffie nodded to herself before turning to him. "Let's see what you can still do."  
  
Without warning, she charged at him, shuriken shining brightly in the flickering lights of the lamps. Leon took up a simple sword stance and ran back at her, his eyes narrowed in an almost animal-like way. She'd considered him a bear and a tiger before, but now she knew what he really was – a lion. A lion that had had its leg hacked at and was more busy worrying about his wounded pride than his wounded leg.  
  
Despite everything he'd said, he was still a pretty good fighter, even with his shattered kneecap. He tended to favor it by not putting as much weight on it and jumping more often than not, but altogether he risked a lot by running heavily on it and ignoring the sickening grating of bones when he moved in a position his leg didn't like. Yuffie had broken a sweat in no time and was spinning and dodging a lot more than she'd expected to, but she nicked him occasionally with the tip of her shuriken, just to show him that she was still in the game.  
  
Finally he growled something and dropped to his right knee while he clutched the left one protectively. The gunblade clattered onto the rocks, forgotten for the moment, as he tried to soothe the throbbing bones and muscles.  
  
Yuffie wiped the sweat off of her forehead with the back of one hand and let the shuriken shrink back to its normal size before putting it back in her pouch and going over to him. "You did a lot better than I thought you would," she told him with a smile, but he didn't return it. Of all things, he shook his head angrily.  
  
"I never used to be this slow, this...weak." He spat the word like it was blasphemy to say it. "I hate what I've become."  
  
Rolling her eyes, Yuffie laid a hand on his shoulder. He flinched at the contact, something she didn't fail to notice. "What you've become is just a less strong fighter who needs to pick up his attitude and get back into the game. You're not weak, believe me; that injury would have kept most people from ever taking up a stance like yours again. We'll do it again tomorrow, and each day you'll get better." When she didn't see the uplifting expression she'd been hoping for, she persisted. "I promise you that by the end of the month, you'll be able to take on Cloud in a fight at the arena. That's how good you can get with my help and if you just let go of your mule-headed attitude," she said sincerely.  
  
He stood abruptly and didn't hide the grimace of pain as his mind registered that his leg did not like that kind of treatment. "Fine," he said in a hard voice. "I accept." With a toss of his head that reminded Yuffie of an over-proud blonde woman from the Academy**[#]**, Leon left the cavern.  
  
"I didn't mean it as a challenge," she said meekly, still trying to understand what was going on.

* * *

"He's impossible! Really impossible," Yuffie insisted before shoving another piece of sushi in her mouth and setting her chopsticks back on their rest. Aerith, sitting across from her in Cloud's lap, nodded understandingly around a mouthful of spaghetti from which Cloud was sharing. The blonde, however, seemed more concerned with wrapping his fingers in Aerith's hair than wrapping noodles around his fork.  
  
"I know," Aerith said once she had swallowed, one hand coming out to fix Cloud's cowl so that his dinner wouldn't stain it. Since she did the laundry, she was always nitpicking about her boyfriend's – or whatever he was to her – eating habits. And fighting habits, and drinking habits, and gambling habits, and just about every other habit Cloud had caught over the years. "You just have to deal with him. He's a real sweetie once you get to know him," she promised, but Yuffie highly doubted it.  
  
Just as she opened her mouth reply, a boy and a girl of roughly the same age (Yuffie guessed somewhere between fourteen and sixteen) came into The Café. Yuffie wouldn't have cared one way or the other who came and left the restaurant, but she recognized the girl as the one who had knocked on her door that morning asking about the soap. (Aerith had also burst out laughing when Yuffie had told her the story, along with a hearty round of "I told you so"'s.) She led the boy by the hand, her navy eyes eager, while the boy just looked embarrassed.  
  
"Kairi, I really don't have a lot of money to spend on an expensive dinner," he was telling her, but Kairi waved it off with one hand. She was wearing the sultry outfit of a waitress at a casino, and the boy didn't seem to overlook that, although he was keeping his eyes modestly off her body and on her face most of the time.  
  
"I told you that I'll pay, Sora," she insisted, leading him to a round table and poking at the wax on a candle that sat in the middle. "All I want is real food and not that crap you get from the quickymart – just for one night. Please?" She stuck out her lower lip and made her eyes impossibly huge, and Sora, after a couple minutes of careful decision-making, sighed resignedly and gave in.  
  
"Sure, whatever," he mumbled, and Kairi yipped happily, clapping her hands and burying her face in the menu.  
  
Shaking her head, Yuffie turned back to Aerith and Cloud, only to find them immersed in each other. Aerith was pulling off her sultry act again, and Cloud was falling victim, his blue eyes wide. The spaghetti was abandoned on the table. Suddenly feeling very alone in the huge world and with nobody besides herself, Yuffie pushed her chair back and left The Café without a word.  
  
She slowly went the into the Second District and decided to take a walk around for a while before coming to the hotel the back way – namely, through the alley that led into the back, where the sewer canal flowed and the balconies stood. With her arms folded against the cold breezes that swept through the back alley, Yuffie turned her head up to look at the stars – and found herself instead looking at Leon, who was standing on his balcony with his arms crossed and his gaze skyward. Yuffie cracked the tiniest of smiles.  
  
Even if she was alone, she wasn't alone in it.

* * *

Yay! I finished the chapter in a two-hour stint in front of the computer. –cheers- I just wanna let you all know that the time ratio on Leon's six inches was really sort of off, since I can't even hold one for more than twenty seconds, but I figured that since he's a warrior and everything, he's used to it. –g- So I get to beat up on him.  
  
37 reviews for three chapters?! You guys freaking rock! -hugs all reviewers- It just really motivates me to see all of the reviews, and I giggle like a maniac and run around the house rambling about all of the nice people. It's what keeps me writing, so I just wanted to let you guys know that you rock. Skeledude 12 asked for an Ansem plushie, and I can't refuse – so here ya go! –presents Skeledude with Ansem plushie-  
  
**[#]** – Can anyone guess who the blonde is? I'll give you a hint -- she's from a Final Fantasy game. Anyone who guesses the right answer gets a super- spiffy Riku plushie!


	5. V: Reficere

**Disclaimer:** The blonde was Quistis. I think about 98% of the people who guessed got it right, so I'll just put out a big box of mixed plushies and let the winners choose.

* * *

Yuffie found out very quickly that Leon was not someone to fast accommodate to her perky style. In fact, he seemed to deny her on purpose just to annoy her, which it did quite easily – she also found out that it was really easy for him to get on her nerves. Whenever she was sure steam was spouting out of her ears, she would look at him and see him snickering into his shirt, and that alone was enough to make her call off the day's session and storm back to her room in an angry huff. Aerith would eventually learn of their fight and would send him knocking on her door to apologize, and Yuffie was surprised to find that she gave in quickly to his grudging apologies.  
  
Walking past the round mirror on the bureau and stopping for a minute to run her fingers through her short hair, Yuffie wondered why she caved so easily when he started in his halting, stuttering apologies. Since their fights happened a lot over the past two weeks she'd started helping him, finding him at her door wasn't too uncommon, and she found, unnervingly, that she would sometimes initiate a fight just to see him grovel to her. But it wasn't the groveling she liked...it was just the way he stood on her doorstep, head down like a punished puppy, and said "I'm sorry for being such a jerk."  
  
Shaking her head, Yuffie tried to get a grip on reality. "C'mon, Yuf, pull yourself together. What are you saying?" she muttered disgustedly to herself as she quietly opened the connecting door to Leon's room. He was sitting on the round table in the middle of the room, reading the same book he had the day she offered to train him.  
  
"Let's go," she prompted in the quiet room, and he jumped, nearly falling off of the table. A wide smile spread over her face as she realized that she'd gotten past his military-trained super-sonic hearing, and she did a few roundhouse kicks into the wall to celebrate her victory. Leon, however, was not as happy.  
  
"Don't do that," he growled, closing his book. He was about to put it on the table when he examined it closer, like he saw a stain on a page or something. Then, before she had time to react, he threw it clear across the room and hit her forehead with it.  
  
"Hey!" Yuffie shouted, immediately clapping her hands to the big red spot on her forehead where the book hit. It fell at her feet, and she kicked it angrily into a corner. "Just because I showed you up once doesn't mean you have to act like a spoiled brat!" she told him matter-of-factly, dropping one hand and using the other to massage her smarting forehead.  
  
Looking around, Yuffie snarled when she saw he didn't have any mirrors for inspecting her bruise. "Why don't you keep mirrors in here?" she snapped testily, going towards the bathroom door at the other end of the room.  
  
"It's my room. I don't have to have a mirror if I don't want to," he said blankly, shouldering his gunblade and walking over to lean against the wall next to the balcony door. Apparently he wasn't about to cancel his training session for a flying book and an outraged Yuffie.  
  
"Yeah, well, it's annoying," Yuffie replied, knowing that she was sounding more like a sulky kid than the Greatest Female Ninja Ever. Why should he have mirrors in his room if he didn't want them?  
  
He ignored her comment and stood there while she probed her bruise from every angle, trying to find the best way to disguise it. It was right in the center of her forehead, so she couldn't pull her bandana lower or she would look stupid. A kerchief would have fixed the problem if the bruise was a little higher up, but it still remained that she would look like an idiot with a kerchief that low. Playing nervously with the ends of her hair, she finally stormed out of the bathroom and out of the Green Room altogether (much to Leon's dismay; she couldn't leave without training him first!) and came to the door of the Blue Room.  
  
Knocking quickly on the door, she was relieved when Cloud answered and not Aerith. His girlfriend worked in a flower shop in a hospital in the back of the Second District, interestingly enough, where she also doubled up as a healer since that was where her expertise in magic was. Why she had to wear such clothes for a job at a hospital was beyond Yuffie, though, and so she never asked. Cloud often referred to Aerith as his Flower Girl, though, so Yuffie thought that Aerith probably just stayed with the job simply to have Cloud call her that.  
  
Rubbing one arm across his eyes, Cloud blinked sleepily at her. "What?" he mumbled, nearly incoherent.  
  
"Do you have a beanie I could borrow, just for a few days?" she pleaded quickly, knowing her request sounded weird. Cloud blinked a few times, trying to get his sleep-fogged brain to understand what she was asking. When her words finally sunk in, he nodded like a door with a broken hinge.  
  
"Waitasecond."  
  
With his jumbled answer, Yuffie stood in the doorway, tapping her foot impatiently on the carpet. It took an eon, but Cloud finally returned, a grey beanie in hand. Yuffie snatched it before he could try and say anything to her, calling a quick "Thanks!" over her shoulder and returning to the Green Room.  
  
Leon was in the same place as before, but when she came back in with the hat firmly covering her bruise and her bandana tied around her arm like Japanese wraps[#], he rolled his eyes and muttered, "Finally." Yuffie made herself not say something sarcastic or rude in response and merely followed him out of the balcony and to the sewer (which he called the Waterway), where she started the training with stretches (that had severely improved his knee, which he stubbornly refused to admit) and then moved into a sparring match.  
  
With his leg improving, Leon was an even more dangerous opponent, now prone to jumping around her or diving quickly into the shadows to avoid her deadly aim. Although she never purposefully tried to hurt him, he didn't seem to have any trouble slashing at her, and most of the time she came back to the hotel with her hands covering gashes he'd left with that stupid weapon of his.  
  
Trying to distract him from cutting her head off, Yuffie asked quickly, "Why don't you have a mirror in your bedroom? I mean, I know guys don't do a lot of primping, but don't you think that with a busted up knee, it would be easier?" Leon growled, thrusting out hard and jumping out of the way quickly. He landed hard on his bad leg, but he didn't seem to notice the pain, if there was any. Working the joint every day had helped him get used to it ("Suck it up," as Yuffie had referred to it) and now he didn't seem to react badly if he landed on it.  
  
"What is with you and those stupid mirrors?" he snarled, jumping back in and parrying one of her larger shurikens quickly. Yuffie dodge-rolled around him and sliced him up the back with the edge of one, not cutting deeply but leaving a thin trail of red seeping out under his jacket, which she'd successfully cut through.  
  
"I want to know!" she persisted, jumping high as he aimed his blade for her stomach. She came down with one foot on his shoulder, and he dropped to his knees, causing her to fall off balance and splash into the cold sewer water. She swam back to the surface and crawled onto the pile of rocks before jumping up and sending out a whole bunch of shurikens and once, trying to catch him off-guard.  
  
"You really want to know?" he asked, his voice no longer loud, but soft, with a deadly chill in it. Yuffie nodded defiantly anyway, her indigo eyes hardened as she slashed at his leg. He nicked her elbow, causing her blood to splat onto the rocks briefly. His eyes narrowed dangerously, he said calmly, while fighting immaculately, "Okay, fine. You want to know why I can't stand to have more than one mirror, and even not in my room? Well, here's the thing: I used to have a mirror in my bedroom, right on the wall by the bed. After I busted my knee, though, I couldn't stand to look in it because I kept seeing a big crack in the glass. I wasn't the best fighter, anymore, and I couldn't do what I was supposed to – so I saw myself as lacking. I smashed the mirror after my first week in the room, and a piece of the glass caught me between the eyes and gave me my scar. Just another imperfection," he spat, slashing out foolishly and leaving a big gap in his defense. Yuffie slid a large shuriken in just above his gut.  
  
"I win," she said breathlessly, not really intent on giving him a mortal wound at that point. His ice blue eyes bored into her dark ones for a minute before he muttered something and pulled away, shouldering his blade and wading out into the water. Yuffie followed him, mulling over his story in her head. Although it sounded a bit childish, she knew that she would've reacted the same way, given time. Being a fighter was everything she was, and if she wasn't able to do what she was born to anymore, she would feel like a piece of herself was stolen. So, when it boiled down to it, she sympathized.  
  
They had slid between the bars and were walking towards the doors to the Second District, preparing to go the hospital and get Aerith to heal them, as they had been doing lately since the amount of injuries had grown during their fights. He pushed through the connecting doors of the hotel and started down one of the cement streets, Yuffie trailing a few feet behind him. Her head snapping up with an idea, she sprinted to his side.  
  
"Hey," she said softly, looking up at him with a small smile. "I understand what you mean. When I was in my first year at the Academy, I broke my arm and couldn't fight for two months. It was the longest, worst part of my life, and I felt really stupid with all of the fighters around me, since they could do what I couldn't. I never really compared our situations before, since your problem is like mine times ten, but I realized just now that we're kind of the same. I healed, and so will you," she finished, laying a hand on his shoulder.  
  
Yuffie had been prepared from the moment she made up her mind to touch him for the blow or the verbal abuse that was to follow. She'd tried to touch him in a non-training way before and he'd reacted as if she'd burned him, either smacking her wherever if hurt the most or just embarrassing her publicly, (which resulted in more Aerith-induced puppy-dog apologies, so Yuffie benefited in the end) and so she figured this time would be no different.  
  
The expected hit or shout never came, though. Whether he was lost in his own thoughts or really felt better knowing Yuffie had suffered the same kind of thing that he was going through, Yuffie didn't know, but whatever it was, he merely flinched slightly and let her hand remain, his eyes on his feet. He took a deep breath, and Yuffie tried to stop her heart from beating so fast. What did she care if she had those muscles, his arm, under her fingers? Why should she care that an extremely good-looking guy was physically connected to her at that moment? Why should it...  
  
Yuffie stopped her train of thought. Screw that, she thought; this guy's gorgeous, and I'm not wasting a minute of this luck!  
  
Stepping in front of him, Yuffie switched her hand positions, placing one on either arm and looking up at him. He crossed his arms uncomfortably, but didn't try and remove her hands, so she kept them where they were and took a step closer.  
  
"You're going to be able to fight like the old you, Leon," she told him sincerely, and for the first time at all since they'd left the Waterway, his eyes actually met hers. For several long minutes they merely stared at each other – not with the fierce intensity of warriors, but as finally reaching an understanding that had been there the whole time.  
  
"Thanks, Yuffie," he said, barely loud enough to hear. "I don't feel sorry about my attitude, but...I guess you've gotta be something special if you can deal with it."  
  
Yuffie smiled. In fact, she laughed – and it was a laugh that was loud enough to disturb a poker game at a corner streetlight and make Sora and Kairi, talking hastily about food arrangements outside of the casino Kairi worked as a waitress at, stare at her like she was a complete lunatic.  
  
And with that ridiculous hat on her head and laughing like she had gone crazy, she couldn't blame them in the least.

* * *

Squiffie next chapter, I promise! Thanks to everyone who reviewed – your encouragement got me through my finals and this last week of school. I get out on Wednesday, so expect updates to come more frequently, since I have an entire summer off to work on this! (although I don't think it'll take that long, honestly) I know I'm repeating myself a lot, but you guys are seriously awesome! And thanks to everyone who participated in the Guess the Blonde challenge – it was an overwhelming response! I feel rather loved, if you ask me : )  
  
**[#]** – Japanese wraps. Uhh...usually cloth tied tight around the wrist that you use to wield your weapon, to keep your arm straighter and therefore your aim better. Ever see Sanosuke Sagara from Rurouni Kenshin? He's got wraps on his right arm, I believe, because that's the hand he used to wield his Zanbato before Kenshin broke it. 


	6. VI: Intercludo

**Disclaimer:** I'm out of school! I'm free! Freedom, all you insubordinates...fear me and my newfound summer vacation...Bwahaha.  
  
**Author's Notes:** Yeah, I normally don't do author's notes in the beginning of the chapter, but I drank a buttload of coffee to celebrate getting out of school and decided that, in honor of my release from this horrid year of school, I'd give all of my most-lovely reviewers this...thing. An interlude, smut (I'd guess you'd call it that). Enjoy.

* * *

Sweat poured down her face and her breathing came in labored gasps. Her fingers grabbed at the sheet and she tried to remain quiet, but she couldn't help it.  
  
She groaned, loud enough to wake the dead.  
  
He tried to ignore her, to continue, but she wouldn't let him get off. She wanted to hear him, too.  
  
"C'mon, Leon, be a man," she pleaded. "Just do it already!"  
  
He fidgeted, obviously uncomfortable. What if she didn't want it and she was just trying to make him feel better?  
  
She groaned again and pleaded this time, "Please!"  
  
He tried to turn away from her, to resist, but she grabbed his arm, yanking him back onto the bed and burying her face in his chest.  
  
"Do it!" came her desperate cry, and he felt himself crumbling.  
  
No, he thought to himself. He tried to get back his stoic attitude, knowing she only wanted it because he did.  
  
He wasn't allowed to give in that easily.  
  
He had to think of her needs.  
  
She panted into his bare chest, trying to console herself. Why wouldn't he just do it already?  
  
Your needs, her needs, they're all the same, now! Leon's inner voice told him. You virtually belong to each other, now, and so everything's the same. Just do it!  
  
"Yuffie," he began, his voice hoarse.  
  
"Leon, if you really, really care, you'd just do it already!" she wailed, wrapping her arms around him and trying to burrow into his chest.  
  
He couldn't help it. She was breaking his reserve.  
  
"I..." he began, but already knew it. His face softened; he had to give her what she wanted.  
  
"Please, Leon, I'm dying," she whispered. Then, with a sudden ferocity, she shouted, "Just take out the trash already!"

* * *

Haha. That had nothing to do with the plot at all. I kept writing Squall instead of Leon. Hmm. Anyway, enjoy. I'm not that gross, really; you'll never see that sort of stuff in my stories. Real Squiffie next chapter. 


	7. VII: Lucere

**Disclaimer:** Someone asked me in their review last chapter if the chapter titles were in English. No, they aren't – their in Latin. They mean, in consecutive order (not counting this one): Arrive, Break, Suggest, Try, Repair, and Block/Interlude. If I did something wrong in the translations, correct me.

* * *

Yuffie sighed exasperatedly and swallowed the rice ball she'd been chewing for the past fifteen minutes, refusing to look at Cloud and Aerith, who were seated across from her at their table in The Café. The two of them had been pecking each other politely on the lips and cheek (and every other possibly place on their faces) since their food had arrived, and now two plates of spaghetti were cold. Yuffie didn't understand why they insisted on taking her out to dinner when all they did was ignore her and kiss, and, realizing this, she threw her chopsticks into her bowl and stood up, muttering, "I'll see you back at the hotel", and leaving.  
  
Aerith and Cloud, of course, failed to notice all of this. His Flower Girl grinned slightly and ran one finger down his cheek before finally giving in and settling on his mouth. Cloud didn't seem to mind that everyone in the First District was watching them, and even wrapped his arms more firmly around her shoulders, enjoying their moment alone – or, at least, in his warped little paradise at that moment, anyway.  
  
Yuffie, feeling dejected, stalked away from The Café in a huff, lashing out at anyone stupid enough to cross her path and holding her shurikens at the ready for any stray Heartless that happened to come her way. People were avoiding her by the time she reached her destination, the arena in the Third District, but she didn't care to take an interest in it. Heartless bubbled up out of nowhere as soon as the doors closed, and she immediately began venting on them.  
  
"I don't – understand – why she has to – act like that – in front of me!" she panted to the monsters, who couldn't care less, as her shurikens ripped through them and came back to her like miniature boomerangs. She exacted a roundhouse kick on a Dark Ball and then dodge-rolled to the side to avoid a Defender's shield, which would have, quite neatly, taken off her head.  
  
Pulling out one of her bigger ninja stars, Yuffie swiped clumsily at the Defender and left herself wide open, and by the time she had gotten an Ars Arcanum going, her left arm was numb from the shield that had slammed into it. "And him!" she continued to rant, realizing that just beating up the Heartless wasn't helping to sate her anger. "He should know better! From what – Aerith told me – they were apart – for years – before he came to Traverse – and found her again. He should – understand what its like – to be alone!"  
  
By the time her little speech had ended, she was standing in the center of a silent Third District arena, the last Heartless dissolving in a blotch of purple and black shadows. She had her shurikens placed unconsciously within the spaces between each finger, ready for throwing four at a time, and her left arm was pulsing from the attack she hadn't dodged.  
  
Taking a deep breath, Yuffie shoved her shurikens back into the pouches at her waist and slowly started up the ramp that lead out of the Third District and into the Second, passing by a couple strolling along the boulevard that ran in front of the small development that had been built specifically for families. The two were holding hands and grinning stupidly at each other, like nothing else mattered.  
  
They made Yuffie think of Cloud and Aerith, and her anger returned – doubled. "Y'know, if you wanna take up space, do it where people _aren't_ walking!" Yuffie said loudly in their direction. Both man and woman turned to glare at her disgustedly before continuing on their walk, and Yuffie crossed her arms and stalked out of the District Doors, even more put-off than before.  
  
Yuffie took a back alley to the hotel, and ended up coming out in the rear, by the sewer leading to the Waterway. She stood there for a minute, looking at the water and mulling over how rude Cloud and Aerith had been to her and, in turn, how obnoxiously she'd acted to that couple just because she was pissed off.  
  
"They deserved it," she muttered, kicking a rock into the canal and making the greenish water splash onto her feet. She kicked at it angrily and decided that someone really didn't want her to have a good day today. She'd been in Traverse for two months, Yuffie realized after a minute, and for the first time since the day she'd arrived, she was starting to regret her decision to come here.  
  
She wanted a challenge – a challenge for the Great Ninja Yuffie the Adult. And what did she get? A couple of friends who only paid attention to her when something was wrong and a guy who was possibly the most pessimistic person that ever lived. She hadn't thought of Leon all day, actually; usually her thoughts somehow managed to focus on him, for some reason. He was like a magnet, always pulling her attention onto him. How did he do that?  
  
He'd improved greatly since she'd started helping him train, and even his attitude had gotten an ounce better, but he was still convinced that he was a failure and wouldn't be able to hold up in real combat. She'd tried loads of times to try and get him to come out fighting with her, but he was like a rock – he wasn't going to budge. All of her hard work, and even when his leg would eventually get strong enough to fight on, he wasn't going to try for fear of embarrassing himself.  
  
"And that's because he's a stupid jerk!" she shouted suddenly, surprising herself. She kicked another rock into the water and clenched her hands at her sides, wanting desperately to hurt something. Where was he, anyway? At this time of day he'd either be sitting on the balcony of his room – which he wasn't, she noticed – or inside of his room. He never turned his lights off until at least one-thirty in the morning, and it couldn't have been past nine o'clock now – so why were his lights off?  
  
Right then she heard a sound – a frustrated curse that echoed. Yuffie knew then where Leon was; the only other person who knew that word was back in Hollow Bastion with the blonde woman he reminded her of. Jumping into the disgusting canal, Yuffie jogged into the Waterway and let the cold water numb her legs as she ran up to where Leon was – or where he should have been. There was no one else in the cavern but her.  
  
Blinking confusedly, Yuffie opened her mouth to yell for him, when his head broke through the water, his spiky brown hair spraying water everywhere. Yuffie let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and waded over to him as he ran a hand over his eyes, trying to rub out the water.  
  
"What were you doing?" Yuffie asked, walking around him so that she was standing in front of him. She had to look up to meet his eyes, and where the water came up to her elbows, it only rose to his stomach. He blinked, trying to see who it was and looking truly lost, before he assumed his cold attitude.  
  
"What do you care? You skipped out on training today, so why do you care now?" he spat, folding his arms. Yuffie narrowed her eyes angrily and threw one finger in his face.  
  
"Look, I've had a really lousy day today, and I don't need you and your sarcasm making it worse. I'm sorry I missed training, but I actually had something to do to get my salary, and I managed to miss something that wasn't benefiting me in the slightest to instead collect my paycheck, which the only thing keeping me from going bankrupt in this stupid town!" She didn't realize she was yelling until her voice was ringing off of the stones.  
  
Leon looked at her as if he'd never really seen her before, his startlingly blue eyes seeming to stare a hole right through her. Yuffie felt her face redden; she hadn't meant to get so carried away. She cleared her throat nervously, clenching and unclenching her hands underwater.  
  
"Okay then," he said quietly.  
  
Yuffie didn't know if it was the way the two torches at end of the cavern closest to them cast their light, or that the water dripping off of his shaggy bangs looked like tiny drops of sunshine, or simply because of the way Cloud and Aerith had acted before and the need to have someone of her own, but she suddenly found her hands clasping his shoulders and her feet forcing her up on her toes in an attempt to match his height as he looked down at her, confusion written all across his face. She blinked, slowly, before she found herself level with his mouth, and didn't wait for a minute before jumping into a kiss with the man she had once thought to be impossible.  
  
To say that he was startled would have been an understatement. Leon nearly leaped out of his skin as Yuffie kissed him, her complete lack of any reasoning for kissing him confusing him even more. What was she doing?  
  
He didn't realize that he hadn't pulled away, or that his arms had somehow wrapped around her slim back and that he simply fell into her as easily as if he'd been with her for months. The water in his hair tracked down the sides of his face, and the drops in his bangs fell into hers, dampening her black hair and making it an even darker black, like obsidian. She didn't seem to notice, and if she did, she didn't care. She was too absorbed in everything Leon at that moment that even if the Waterway they stood in was crashing down around them, she wouldn't have noticed it in the slightest.

* * *

I know that chapter was really short, but I thought it was a good place to end it. So, was it fulfilling? I originally planned to have Sokairi in this chapter as well, but then I couldn't find a way to sneak the two of them in there, so first thing next chapter is a Sora/Kairi kiss to apologize for not having it in this chapter.  
  
Cloud and Aerith really don't care, do they? Another piece of Bad Girl Aerith that never would happen in KH, I'm guessing. Anyway, thanks to everyone who reviewed for last chapter – you've all boosted my ego sincerely! I THANK YOU ALL!! –passes chocolate around since she's run out of plushies—  
  
I think it was Skeledude that asked me how to make the little bar-line things between the Author's Notes and the story. Here's how: go into Quickedit and choose the space in the little textbox where you want your bar. There's a little silver line on the 8th button from the left. Hit that, and presto! 


	8. VIII: Quaere

**Disclaimer:** Read Way of the Wolf. It's a good book. Author is E. E. Knight. I'm not sure if E. E. Knight is a man or a woman, but it doesn't matter. It's well worth the read, even though it freaked me out a little bit.

* * *

He had been so tired when he'd come back from his shift on security that Sora had collapsed on the bed in the Yellow Room as soon as he saw it – which meant that three-quarters of his body had missed it. Kairi had been sleeping on her side already, but woke up as the huge "thump" from Sora landing on the floor made the entire bed vibrate. She sat up, blinking tiredly, and rolled her eyes when she saw him. Crawling to the end of the bed, she grabbed up under his arms and hauled him up onto the bed, pushing him in the general direction of the pillows. She was about to go back to sleep on her side of the bed when she took notice of the compromising situation.  
  
Grinning wickedly, Kairi snuggled up on his stomach and arranged his hands over her before tucking her head under his chin and closing her eyes. Whoever said you couldn't make the most of a situation?  
  
Sora woke up with something warm on him. At first he thought he was five again and it was his dog, Scruffy, curled up over him like a possessive blanket. He laughed through his teeth and rubbed the warm thing, expecting to find fur under his fingers –  
  
And jolted fully awake and upright when he felt smooth skin and craftily woven fabric against his fingers.  
  
Looking down wildly, with possibilities (and not good ones) spilling through his mind faster than he could grab them, Sora scrambled out from under her, awakening his roommate in the process.  
  
She opened her navy blue eyes, looking up sleepily at him. He tried to ignore the fact that she was really pretty with her red hair all messed up like that and stammered, "K-Kairi! W-what happened l-last n-night?"  
  
She giggled into his shirt, which made him extremely uncomfortable. "Nothing, silly. You were dead tired and I put you on the bed, and I guess we sort of found each other in the night," she said, a secretive smile on her face. "We do sleep on the same bed, you know."  
  
He nodded nervously, pushing himself up against the headboard. Kairi giggled again and sat up, scooting around so that she was right in front of him, her face the picture of innocence. She pushed a lock of his gravity- defying hair away from his eyes and cocked her head, leaning forward. Sora was completely frozen when she finally dared to kiss him, and remained that way, dumfounded.

* * *

"Hold the phone. You _kissed_ him?"  
  
Yuffie couldn't hold back the blush that spilled across her face as Aerith stared at her blankly. The healer had straddled a chair in the Accessory Shop while the ninja was sitting on one of the black couches, her legs folded under her. Her eyes were down, because she thought that if she met Aerith's emerald eyes, she'd spill out the whole story like a four-year-old apologizing for spilling a glass of milk. She wanted to keep a strong front, but she knew that she couldn't last. Nobody could beat Aerith in dragging the truth out of someone.  
  
"Yeah. But it's not like what you think, I guarantee it," Yuffie tried to assure her, but Aerith remained skeptical. She raised an eyebrow and tilted back in the chair, making her top tighten provocatively. Cid, behind the counter, was watching the Flower Girl's back with a smirk until Yuffie made a rude gesture at him. The older man scowled and stalked into the back room.  
  
"Then explain," Aerith said firmly. Yuffie groaned, massaging her temples with two fingers. She wasn't going to get out of this, she knew.  
  
So, taking a deep breath, she recounted the entire night for Aerith – from being pissed off at her and Cloud for ignoring her, the couple she'd randomly yelled at, and, finally, to how Leon looked like he needed a good kiss in the Waterway. She knew that she probably had needed that kiss more than him, she told herself mentally, but the proverbial Devil Yuffie yelled at that voice and said that it was his fault for looking so kissable.  
  
"...Then he was staring at me like I grew another head or something, so I took off. I locked myself in the Red Room and didn't come out until early this morning, when I knew he would be asleep. I've been taking care of the Heartless all day and haven't gone back to the hotel since," she finished, fidgeting under Aerith's eyes.  
  
Her friend blinked, unsure of how to judge the situation. Aerith screwed up her face and ran a hand through her chestnut bangs. "Well," she finally said, "you can't just keep running away from him. He's going to expect an explanation, or at least that you continue with your training or whatever it is you're doing for him. Since you started that, he's been in the most tolerable mood I've ever seen since before his girlfriend died."  
  
The brakes slammed on, and Yuffie literally almost fell backwards onto the couch. Eyes wide, she scrambled back upright, her eyes locked on Aerith's.  
  
"Back up. He had a girlfriend?" she asked, disbelieving. Aerith gave her a weird look.  
  
"Well, yeah," she said in a tone of voice that suggested she'd told Yuffie this before. "Didn't I tell you already? He was going steady with her for like two years, but she died," Aerith finished, still looking at her strangely.  
  
Yuffie felt like she was in a different world. Girlfriend? Since when did cold, emotionless Leon have a girlfriend? He'd never mentioned her, even hinted that he'd been in another relationship before, in all of those weeks she had trained with him. Surprisingly, he would slip and tell her strange things about himself or the military he'd worked for, but never once had he said anything about a girlfriend.  
  
She blinked, making Aerith cock her head like a sparrow. Yuffie wondered detachedly why she cared that he had a girlfriend; it's not like they had anything going on between them. Besides, this alleged girlfriend was no threat to her. Wait a minute – no threat? Since when did she consider Leon a possession of hers? She always thought he was one of the best flavors of eye-candy she'd ever encountered, but why was she acting like it was she that was dating him?  
  
"Are you alright?" Aerith asked, snapping her out her chance. Yuffie's head jerked up, and she nodded mechanically.  
  
"Sure," she said, still puzzled about why she felt this intense jealousy of a woman she didn't even know, a woman who was dead, who had dated Leon two years ago. Aerith was still looking at her strangely, like Yuffie had contracted a disease or something, so the ninja sat up and began walking towards the door. "I...have things to do. Important things," she affirmed, giving a nod and darting out the door like a fox.  
  
Aerith blinked, completely confused. "What was that?" she asked aloud, and Cid, coming out from the backroom, shrugged and blew some smoke out of the corner of his mouth.  
  
"I told ya she had loose marbles," he said sagely. Aerith rolled her eyes.  
  
"If she has loose marbles, I'd hate to find out what you have," she said, grinning at the abashed look on Cid's face.  
  
All laughter faded, though, when she thought about Yuffie again. She could have sworn she'd told the ninja about Leon's girlfriend before, and even so, why was she acting so weird? Well, the kiss might have had something to do with it, but still...Aerith was an expert at reading people, and if she was wrong, she'd put on a modest shirt.  
  
As strange as it seemed, she was almost one hundred percent positive that Yuffie was in love with Leon.

* * *

There was a knock on the Red Room door, causing Yuffie to yelp and fall off of the stool she'd been sitting on. The book she had been reading (Yuffie only read when she was stressed out, and this book was huge) fell on her back as she landed on the floor, causing her to groan in frustration. Pushing herself up with her hands, she said glumly, "Come in."  
  
Expecting it to be only Aerith, Cloud, or Kairi asking for more lavender soap (she'd found out that was the girl's name, and her roommate's was Sora), she didn't bother looking at the door or opening it. She concentrated on getting back onto the stool and putting her bookmark back in between the pages (it was a gift from an old friend at the Academy for Candelmas in her sophomore year; it said Vincent Valentine3's You!) and, in doing so, didn't realize that the person that had walked through her door was the person she had spent all of the day before avoiding.  
  
Yuffie's eyes became as big as saucers. "Leon! What are you doing here? I'm busy! Go away!" she said in a rush, dropping the book again and darting to the door.  
  
"Wait a minute," he said calmly, folding his arms and taking a step forward. No limp, Yuffie noticed absently. "I need to talk to you."  
  
Her hand wouldn't turn the knob. Why was that? She didn't think she had broken anything in her tumble off the stool, but then again she hadn't really taken the time to examine herself, either. Maybe she'd cracked something, or had hit a bone and made the entire thing numb.  
  
"About what?" she managed to get out through teeth that didn't want to make any words.  
  
Now he looked a bit embarrassed. He turned his eyes down, and his confidence dropped away. Not meeting her eyes, he said, "Yesterday. What...happened?"  
  
Yuffie shifted uncomfortably, leaning back heavily against the door. She really had wanted to avoid this confrontation, but, like Aerith, it was impossible. She wished the healer would come in right now and save her, but she knew fate would never be that nice to her – after all, it hadn't exactly given her the greatest amount of control over her words, or a polite or quiet attitude (which, actually, she was thankful she didn't have).  
  
Finally she relented. Taking a deep breath, she said in an undertone, "I don't know. Aerith and Cloud were acting really lover-ish and ignoring me, and it got on my nerves and made me do irrational things. For weeks now all I've been thinking about is you; I don't have a clear head when I'm training with you or anything, and I'm constantly saying stupid things if you're around. You were like me – alone, by yourself. Aerith had Cloud and those two roommates down the hall had each other, and everyone else in Traverse has someone for themselves, so I latched onto you because you were alone. Yesterday everything sorta just came spilling out...and I kissed you."  
  
Yuffie realized belatedly that she had just, in very bare terms, told a man that she'd known for only two months that she was basically obsessed with him. She felt like she had just dropped all her clothes and was standing in front of him, completely naked, and that only made her feel worse. Leon blinked, trying to digest everything.  
  
"It's not like you totally despise me, either," she countered suddenly, not wanting to be the complete fool in this. "You didn't pull away. You enjoyed it!" Triumphant, she let her confidence show through. She was Yuffie Kisaragi, legal adult, The Greatest Female Ninja Ever, and she wouldn't let some stupid kiss ruin her pride.  
  
"Yeah, I don't despise you," he replied, his voice gathering strength as he went. "But its not like I just asked you to kiss me! I mean, just because I've gotten to know you and tell you more things than I've told anyone in years and you make me want to go out and train doesn't mean –"He broke off suddenly, staring at her angrily, as if she had made him spill out everything.  
  
"You don't show anything," she murmured, taking a step away from the door. "You never show any emotion, not even now. But all those things you said – that must mean, in Leon-speech, that you..."  
  
"Can you love someone in the space of two months? Can you realize that the person you are frustrated by the most is the one for you? Can relationships built over fallen weapons and injured legs ever have a hope of surviving? And, most of all, can a I, a man who can't even say what he feels the most attempt to admit that, while you was pining away for me secretly, I was doing the same?" he said, so softly that Yuffie had to walk another three paces to hear it.  
  
For the first time since he'd come in the room, she gave the smallest of smiles. "You never know," she whispered.

* * *

Woah. That came out of nowhere. Well, it was dragging on too long already, and it was easier just to spit it out in one chapter. And I got the Sokairi in, just like I promised! –pride—  
  
This story will be about eleven chapters. Maybe one less, maybe one more. It all depends on how I'm gonna wrap things up.  
  
Yes! My computer's being dumb right now and not letting me see my reviews to see who wrote this, but yes, whoever you are, you are correct about the Latin with the 'to arrive' and stuff. Originally I had everything in the first-person conjugation (it was like 'I Arrive') and had to change it when I realized what I was doing. Thanks a lot for your help, and apologies that I don't have your name.  
  
I GOT 89 REVIEWS!!! OMGWTAFANGIRLGOOSH!! Everyone who reviewed last chapter ROCKS MY SOCKS!!  
  
But I would be even happier if you reviewed this chapter. Please? –big anime eyes-- 


	9. IX: Abscondere

**Disclaimer:** I'm late! I'm late! For a very important date! And if I knew the rest, I would post it, but I've never seen Alice in Wonderland. The only reason I know that is because everyone knows that.

* * *

"Okay! I've got _Return of the Mutants_, _Mummies Strike Back_, _Vampires at Large_, and _Casablanca._ Which one will it be?" Yuffie presented the rented movies like a woman on a game show, standing them up in their respective cases on top of the round table in the middle of the Green Room. Leon, stretched out on the bed, looked uncomfortable, and not from his knee.  
  
"Do we really have to do this?" he asked, looking up at her helplessly. Yuffie nodded impatiently.  
  
"Yes! Its boyfriend-girlfriend stuff. This is what lovers do; they get together and watch old movies. It's practically set in stone," she said, gesturing wildly to make her point more clearly.  
  
"But we're not lovers – we're not even boyfriend and girlfriend. We've been 'going out' for about seventy-six hours and you're already jumping into what we 'have to do'. Have you been planning this since the moment you met me?" he asked, trying to find a way out of this. He had no problem with Yuffie, with being with her – less than no problem – but in his one-track mind, he would rather be fighting than sitting around and letting his leg cramp up.  
  
"Gee, thanks for timing us," Yuffie muttered, folding her arms. Then, louder, "Just pick already. After we watch _one movie_ –" she drew it out long and crossed her eyes – "we can go out and fight, alright?" After several long minutes in which Yuffie tapped her foot impatiently and Leon counted something on his fingers, he sighed and nodded. She clapped her hands. "Great. Now pick one."  
  
It wasn't a surprise what he picked. "Casablanca," he said, grinning. Maybe if he could get Yuffie to get really angry at his choice, have her yell at him to pick something else, and then refuse, they could skip the 'boyfriend- girlfriend' stuff and do something that he at least enjoyed.  
  
Yuffie groaned loudly and made a huge deal over it. "But _Leeee-on_, its so _booooring_," she whined, stomping one foot. "Why are you such a boring adult? Twenty-five year olds are s'posed to be young and in their prime. Why are you like a stuffy forty-year old? C'mon, pick something else, _pleeeeease_?" She folded her hands and made her eyes huge, giving him the cutest expression she had.  
  
He shook his head. _Yes,_ he thought inwardly, _my plan is working._ He fought the urge not to give a wicked laugh at his upcoming triumph. "Nope, not a chance," he said obstinately, folding his arms and shaking his head, sending his brown hair flying.  
  
Yuffie grumbled something inaudible and stomped over to the TV, slamming the cassette into the VCR. "Fine, have it you way, Lord-King-Duke-Leon," she mocked, grabbing the remote and pressing Play. Leon sat, astounded that his plan had backfired, but even more confused that she had actually given in. She never used to give in that easily to anything he suggested (like extra hours of training, or getting sparring mats so that he wouldn't have to bruise up his back). This was only more confirmation that she had meant what she said, which made him –  
  
He was interrupted when a fist connected to his forehead. He blinked dazedly, looking up into Yuffie's navy blue eyes. She had her hands on her knees and was kneeling in front of him on the bed.  
  
"Hellooo? Anyone home? The movie started fifteen minutes ago and you're sitting here with this expression like you just discovered The Café doesn't cook their eggs all the way through," she said, not looking generally concerned, but still unbelieving.  
  
"They don't?" he asked stupidly, trying to remember what he was supposed to be doing. Yuffie rolled her eyes and leaned back against his chest, crossing her arms and trying to pay attention to the movie, which, to her mind, was the worst torture device man had ever made for himself. Leon blushed incredibly, holding his arms up. "W-what're you doing?" he stuttered, trying to scoot away from the physical contact but only jamming himself further into the corner where the wall met the bed.  
  
"Leaning on you," Yuffie said, smiling cruelly because he couldn't see her. She fake-yawned and stretched languidly, throwing her arms backwards around his neck in the process. Leon, horror stricken, tried to push her away, but she only curled up against him, closing her eyes and lowering her arms to take one of his hands. Turning it palm-up, she opened her eyes and giggled, tracing her fingers over the smooth leather of his gloves. "Why do you wear gloves?"  
  
He sighed, knowing that she was far too into the whole scenario of them seeing each other to give up. He replied stiffly, "Military protocol. Leave no fingerprints, leave no evidence." Yuffie didn't truly understand what he said – the military wasn't exactly a spy agency – but she left it and instead peeled the glove off of his hand, to his dismay. "W-what're you doing?" he said for the second time.  
  
Yuffie rolled her eyes. "You're so impersonal with those gloves on. I betcha your hands are really smooth, 'cause you never take them off," she said slyly, looking down at his upturned palm. Her eyes widened, however, when she saw that, in actuality, his hand was covered with scars and calluses, and even four pairs of stitches. He tensed slightly as she ran one finger over a set of stitches, and then looked up at him questioningly.  
  
"You think knives can't go through leather?" he laughed, cracking a smile for the first time that night. "It helps, but it's not light I'm wearing metal or anything." Yuffie managed to giggle along, although she was still fascinated by the pure amount of combat that apparently gloved hands had seen.  
  
"I think you wear them to cover up the scars," she said softly, looking up at him. He met her eyes, his own being totally unreadable, and she continued. "Why don't you show them off? You have so many of them, it just proves that you're as great a fighter as your reputation says."  
  
He shifted uneasily, but didn't say anything, like she was hoping. She sighed, bringing his bare palm up to her lips and kissing it, right over all of the stitches, cuts, and calluses. To her ultimate surprise, he smiled slightly, and used the hand she was holding to sift through her hair briefly, which caused her to launch herself at his stomach and wrap her arms around his back. His eyes widened at the unexpected attack on his abdomen, but he eventually relaxed, paying more attention to the teenager wrapped around him than to the movie, which was still playing, oblivious to the fact that the people who had actually rented it weren't watching in the slightest.  
  
"Hey," Leon said an hour later, rousing Yuffie out of the nap she was taking on his stomach. She yawned for real and blinked.  
  
"Hmm?" she asked, still half-asleep. She disentangled herself from him and rubbed her eyes – and was completely caught off-guard when he grabbed one of her hands and pulled off the glove covering it.  
  
"Gotcha," he said, a proud smirk on his face. Yuffie grinned, accepting the glove he held out with her un-captured hand. "Okay, let's see what the ninja has under her gloves." He turned her palm up and was prepared to mock all of her scars and blisters as well, but what he saw surprised him completely. They were completely clean, totally unharmed, and as smooth as the day she was born.  
  
Yuffie snatched her hand back, embarrassed, a pink tinge in her cheeks. "Yeah, well, at the Academy you really don't train with your weapons 'cause some of the kids...they get really competitive, see, and they start doing things to permanently disable an opponent, so they give us wooden designs of your weapon-of-choice, and you train with them, and...and when I'm fighting here, I'm too busy using my hands for my shurikens to really leave them open, so I...I..." She rubbed the bare hand self-consciously.  
  
Without any trace of amusement on his face, Leon slowly took her hand away and kissed it in the same fashion that she had done for him an hour or so ago. "It doesn't bother me," he said softly, lacing his fingers with hers.  
  
"That's good," she began closing her eyes and tucking her head under his chin. "Because I wasn't about to change it for you."

* * *

"Sora! Guess what?"  
  
Kairi burst into the Yellow Room, her arms flung wide open and her eyes shining with excitement. Sora, asleep on the bed, sat up groggily and mumbled something unintelligible. Kairi ran over to him, jumping on the bed and kissing him full on the lips. His eyes widened when she released him, and he looked at her strangely, all traces of sleep gone from him.  
  
"I knew that would wake you up," she said secretively, fiddling with a piece of yellow paper that she had pulled out from the waistband of her short black apron. She shoved it under his nose, saying, "Read it! Go on!"  
  
Sora obeyed, unfolding the paper and squinting at it. It read, in no unclear terms, that the manager of the casino was so thrilled by Kairi's work that he was giving her a management jobs at a restaurant of his in Atlantica. "'The Catering Crustacean'?" Sora asked dubiously, scratching his head, utterly confused. Kairi nodded and gave a small yip, making her briefly resemble a small dog.  
  
"Yep! Isn't it awesome? That job pays like fifty million times more than what I'm getting now, both jobs together! Plus I'll get to wear the cutest little outfit, with lots of shells an –"  
  
Sora cut her off by grabbing her shoulders, a knot of fear in his stomach. "You're leaving," he stated. It wasn't a question. Kairi nodded. "When?"  
  
"Tomorrow morning. The gummi's coming in at eight, so I gotta be up and at 'em really early," she chirped, and Sora thought that if he wasn't holding her down, she would have been bouncing off the ceiling.  
  
No, no, no, this wasn't happening. She wasn't leaving. She wasn't going to leave him here alone with the adults – she wasn't going to leave him here...alone...  
  
Sora shook his head emphatically. "Okay. I need to go." He scrambled off of the bed and was out the door and down the hall by the time Kairi had thought enough to go after him.  
  
"Where are you going? Your job starts in an hour!" she bellowed after him, trotting to try and catch him up.  
  
"Gummi International," he said in a level tone of voice. He was out of the hotel doors and striding purposefully down the street, because GI was in the Second District.  
  
"Why?" she hollered from the doorway, cupping her hands around her mouth.  
  
"Because I'm going with you!" he shouted back.

* * *

A knock on the Green Room door woke both Leon and Yuffie, who had fallen asleep on the bed to Casablanca, who was rolling its credits now. Yuffie was curled against Leon's stomach, and he had an arm wrapped around her protectively; both were out like a light until a harder knock than the first managed to get them both up. Yuffie sat up first, blinking sleepily, and punched Leon in the stomach to get him up. He grunted slightly – he impact of her fist against his muscles wasn't great – but got up anyway, rubbing an arm across his eyes.  
  
"Whats it?" he slurred, looking around as if he'd never seen his own room before. A third knock came, loud enough to knock down the doorpost, and Yuffie finally had an idea to let whoever was knocking in. "Yeah, it's open," she called after clearing her throat.  
  
The embossed green door opened and Aerith entered. It was quite comical watching her, actually, because her face, a worried mask as she stepped through the doorway, had morphed into a shocked expression so quickly that Yuffie slammed her hands over her mouth to stifle a fit of giggles.  
  
"What's going on?" Aerith breathed after a few long minutes of silence, her eyes as wide as saucers. She had somehow acquired a pink silk kerchief, which she'd knotted into a round cap and stuck on overtop of her chestnut hair, matching perfectly with her top.  
  
"Sleep," Leon answered honestly, collapsing against the headboard and massaging his eyes with the thumb and forefinger of his left hand.  
  
"What did you want?" Yuffie covered impatiently, wanting to get back to her quality time with Leon. She snuck a peek at him and grinned.  
  
Aerith recovered from her momentary shock and crossed her arms angrily. "You, Yuffie," she snarled. "I was looking for you all day! I looked in the Waterway, in the Red, Blue, and Yellow rooms, as well as everywhere else in this world! The last place I expected to find you was here; I finally got the nerve to ask Leon where you were and I walk in to find – !" The Flower Girl stopped, her mouth working, as if she expected more words to come out (which they didn't, Yuffie noted mentally).  
  
"– Two people sleeping. What's so astonishing about it, Aerith?" Leon asked exasperatedly, finally looking at her square in the face.  
  
"I...I..." The healer was speechless, unable to conjure up any sultriness or concernedness that could have saved her right then. Yuffie leapt in to fill the gap, taking the initiative from Leon.  
  
"...Was about to leave and let Yuffie and Leon sleep? How nice of you!" Leaping up from the bed, Yuffie grabbed her friend's elbow and dragged her out into the hall, giving her a pat on the shoulder and a smile before bounding back into the Green Room and slamming the door shut. Leon tossed her a key from the windowsill and she caught it, jamming it into the lock and turning it. "No more interruptions now," she said slyly, going back to the bed and crawling up next to him.  
  
"That's right," he agreed, and promptly turned over, his back to her, and resumed his nap. Yuffie rolled her eyes and folded her arms, leaning up against the headboard.  
  
"That's not what I meant," she grumbled.

* * *

This chapter was just for my enjoyment. It was just a lot of fun to write and to finally show Aerith up. I even got some Sokairi in there! Anyway, there was a typo in the last chapter – the bookmark was supposed to say Vincent Valentine hearts You!, but when I tried to make the heart, stupid Quickedit made it a bunch of symbols. I just thought I'd treat the Vinny fans out there (-coughcough-Deplora-coughcough-) but it backfired. –sheepish grin— Can't win 'em all.  
  
Next chapter's the last. I didn't think it would end so soon, but whatever, in the terms of Squall. I never used us real name in this story – I'm saving it for the final chapter, which'll be here on Friday. Thanks to everyone whose read and reviewed so far; you've made it worth it. 


	10. X: Finis

**

* * *

Disclaimer:** Guess who finished a story? Go on, take a guess.

* * *

She had expected cheers and fireworks, loud parades or marching bands. Perhaps flags and streamers, or at least a few banners and signs. Maybe some balloons or confetti, like a giant party, and people with party- blowers making annoying noises like deflating bubble wrap lining the streets. At the very least, Yuffie told herself, she just expected a lot of noise. If nothing else, she wanted to hear something loud.  
  
But it wasn't like that. She was completely stunned, walking behind him into the arena in the Third District only to see not a single person lining the huge wall surrounding the stadium. No women were throwing roses at his feet (not that they would have lasted long if they had), and no little kids were cheering that he was their hero. There was absolute silence, the most extravagant contrast to what she'd expected.  
  
Running up in front of him and then walking backwards so that she could face him, Yuffie waved her arms in the air angrily. "You said that everybody was always really happy when you came out to fight!" she exclaimed.  
  
A small smile was on his lips, and it didn't diminish. It wasn't a smirk or condescending, but something else, and Yuffie couldn't decide what to call it. Happiness? Satisfaction? "Yeah, and I didn't lie," he replied, shifting his gunblade on his shoulder.  
  
Yuffie's eyes turned huge in exasperation. "Then where are the cheering crowds? The screaming masses? Why don't I see balloons or signs or at least one piece of confetti?" she asked, planting her hands on her hips and halting dead in the middle of the arena, preventing him from going any further unless he walked around her.  
  
Leon rolled his eyes, but the smile didn't leave his face. "I wasn't that kind of hero," he tried to explain, covering his eyes with one hand [A/N: Classic Squall! XP] and shaking his head. Taking away the covering, he looked her right in the eyes. "I was more of a...down-low kind of guy. I took care of things, but I didn't brag about it. That's why everyone liked me so much. Nobody came out in the open about it, since there are plenty of other people like me who fight and brag – like you, only you don't brag – but if I ran out of rounds or something, I would find them right when I needed them."  
  
Yuffie tapped her chin for a minute. "So...you lied to me when you said that people would get their hopes up if they saw you out here?" she started, and felt like she was wandering around in the dark on her hands and knees.  
  
He shook his head, making his long hair sway. "No," he said, obviously fed up with the discussion. "I wasn't lying." When he didn't elaborate any further, Yuffie threw up her arms and scoffed, walking a few paces away from him and pulling a few shurikens out of the pouches on her belt.  
  
"Let's get started then," she grumbled, trying to get her adrenaline going. Without severe excitement and anticipation, she couldn't feed her power into her shurikens, making them do more damage. "They don't come around until they see you're ready to start beating 'em up."  
  
Leon took a huge breath and slowly lowered his weapon, cocking the pistol portion of it back and taking up an informal sword stance. After three months of nonstop training with Yuffie, his leg had gotten flexible almost to the point that he could use it seamlessly, not needing to take a break until hours after beginning, and in hard combat to boot. He didn't know how she did it – what had seemed simple calisthenics had turned out to practically save his life – and was convinced she had implemented some sort of foreign potion on him at sometime or another, but she had simply laughed and told him that it was just a matter of setting your mind to it, as corny as it sounded.  
  
Setting his finger on the trigger, Leon narrowed his eyes and assumed the prowess of a lion, true to the design engraved on the sword of his gunblade.  
  
"Coming at you!" Yuffie shouted, but she didn't have to do so. He'd already spun and taken down three Blue Rhapsodies with the single swing before charging towards a Dark Ball. A Defender was in the center of it all, throwing its huge shield around, and Leon had just dispatched his fifth Dark Ball when he realized that none of the other Heartless would give up unless he disabled the Defender.  
  
"Keep them busy!" he yelled in Yuffie's general direction, jumping over the Defender's shield in the process and landing around back before hacking away at its armor. Yuffie jerked her head up from where she had been fumbling a Potion out of one of her pouches and nodded that she heard before hastily tipping the item down her throat and going out to do her lover's bidding.  
  
Yuffie made quick work of the rest of the Heartless, all confused as to why their leader was being attacked first. Yuffie tossed a shuriken and caught it expertly, blowing the proverbial steam off the top of it before tucking it away. While Leon beat the Defender into oblivion, obviously enjoying his work (since he had a nasty smile on his face, which he only got when he beat her in duels or sparring sessions), making Yuffie loathe to interrupt him. Bored since no more Heartless would show up until the last one was finished, she let her eyes roam around the arena, the tops of the walls, the –  
  
She stopped roving her eyes around and dropped her jaw, fighting hard not to cheer and start jumping up and down. A single little boy was sitting on the wall, watching the fight with excitement and a huge smile on his face. His hair was wet, like he'd jumped out of a bath, and his shirt was on backwards, but he was kicking his feet happily and enjoying the show.  
  
"Leon!" Yuffie shouted, unable to believe what she saw. "Leon!"  
  
With a final smash of his weapon, the Defender melted into shadows, and Leon looked up to see what his lover was so happy about. She pointed, and he looked up, blinking confusedly. The little boy applauded, the smack of his hands ringing in the almost-empty arena. Leon cocked his head and shouldered his gunblade, as unbelieving as Yuffie. Just as he opened his mouth to say something, though, a chorus of new Heartless appeared, demanding their attention.  
  
This round too was dispatched quickly, mostly because Yuffie wanted to look up and see if more people had come. When she had finished off her last Red Nocturne and Leon was loading a few more rounds into the chamber of his weapon, Yuffie leaned on her knees and grinned. At least ten more people lined the walls, a few holding onto the thick posts that came at intervals as if weak in the knees, and more sitting on the wall like the little boy, not believing what they saw. Yuffie felt the same way.  
  
She knew that her paycheck this month was going to far outlast the one she'd gotten last month, since they fought for four hours with no more stops than it took to down a Hi-Potion or Ether. Each time another round of Heartless disappeared into purple-and-black smog, more people appeared on the wall, and the more time that went by, the more crowded the wall became. By the time Leon was complaining of how he needed to cut out the knees of his pants, people were overlapping each other, with some perched on the tops of the posts and others lining the balconies that were built into the walls for such an occasion.  
  
"We'd better get back," she said, going over to him and saying it in his ear. "I smell so bad that I want to barf from it, and you're no better." She grinned and kissed his earlobe in saying it, and he scowled and wiped off his small silver stud, which had been caught in the sudden attack on his ear.  
  
"Yeah, whatever," he muttered, opening the chamber of the pistol portion and sending four rounds flying into the air. He grabbed and pocketed them before clicking it shut and then shouldered his weapon, surprisingly waiting for Yuffie to come with him instead of starting out alone.  
  
The people in the crowd gaped and all stood on top of each other, trying to see him as he made his rather unglamorous exit. Somebody called something out to them, but neither of them heard it – not that Leon would have needed any encouragement anyway.

* * *

It had started to rain on the way back to the hotel, which only heightened the disgusting smell that Leon and Yuffie had assumed during their hours in combat. When they came into the Green Room (where Yuffie had started living, giving Aerith back her Red Room – only Aerith hadn't taken it back) it was a fight to get into the bathroom first, but eventually Leon won with brute force, shoving her back onto the table. With the wind knocked out of her, Yuffie laid there for a couple minutes without moving, and when she finally did get up, she opened the bathroom door because she couldn't hear the shower.  
  
Leon was wrestling with the tangles in his long hair, fighting a losing battle with the comb. A fluffy white towel was wrapped around his waist, and another one was abandoned in a heap on the floor, probably having been for his hair. His clothes were in a pile on the floor, having missed the hamper for the maid by about two inches, and his assorted jewelry ("It's not jewelry!" he would insist) and gloves were on the counter. He didn't appear to notice that the door had opened a crack, and when Yuffie slipped in and wrapped her arms around his stomach, it was a surprise.  
  
His muscles un-tensed under her touch when he realized who it was that had come into the bathroom, and Yuffie giggled, running her fingers over his smooth (and blessedly clean) skin. She made a circle around his navel with her finger, causing him to kick her from behind as he tore the comb through his hair.  
  
"You should get a belly button ring," she said to him, drawing imaginary patterns on his bare chest. "That way you can show off your nice abs with reason." He rolled his azure eyes and finally threw down the comb, defeated.  
  
"Get outta here for a minute, Yuf. I want to change," he said, motioning to another heap on the floor, which probably had clothes in it somewhere. Yuffie pouted, uncoiling her arms.  
  
"But I'm your girlfriend," she whined, starting extra-slow towards the door. "Can't I stay?"  
  
With a firm "No," he shoved her out the door and locked it behind her, which only made her cross her arms angrily. After a minute or so he came out again with his hair in a ponytail (to try and hide the tangles, Yuffie guessed) and in a pair of long flannel pants. He motioned for Yuffie to go in, and she giggled.  
  
"What is it?" he asked, half curious and half irritated, as he walked over to the bed and picked the remote up off the window sill.  
  
"You didn't put a shirt on," she observed, holding her pajamas as a bundle under one arm.  
  
He smirked, turning on the TV and putting his hands behind his head. "You liked it better off," he replied, and Yuffie nodded approvingly.  
  
"Touché, senor," she said before ducking into the bathroom and locking it behind her. It took her far longer to shower and change than it did him, and when she finally did come back out, he was asleep in the same position that she'd left him in, albeit with his head drooping a little. In one of his white T-shirts and a pair of plaid pajama pants, Yuffie hit the light switch next to the door with a discarded shoe (it was hers) before creeping across the room and crawling up next to him on the bed. She managed to wriggle the blanket out from under his dead weight and snuggle up in both that and his side, smiling as she did so.  
  
"Yuffie," he murmured, and she looked up at him, reflexively blowing a strand of loose hair out of her eyes. He was silent for a while, and Yuffie took the initiative to turn off the TV and chuck the remote at the table. She waited, trying to imagine what kind of loving thing he was going to say. The minutes grew longer, stretching until she was sure at least half an hour had passed. Angrily, she pushed herself up with the heels of her hands to look at him – and found that he had fallen asleep.  
  
Rolling her eyes, she settled back down against him and muttered, "Yeah, you're quite the romancer, Leon." Closing her eyes and trying to go to sleep, she heard what he said in response as if from a few rooms away, if he'd been shouting.  
  
"You bet I am."

* * *

Corny ending much. People seemed to not like it as it went along, but I hope that's not the case and everyone's just on vacation. Anyway, I'd like to thank everyone whose read and reviewed (or even just read) for keeping me inspired and into this story – making it my best yet, I think.  
  
And here's the obligatory credits list that every good author needs to close a story with:  
  
Squaresoft and Disney are credited first to avoid any troubles with the disclaimers. I haven't done a single disclaimer this whole story, and I don't intend to now, but I am putting their names here so that people don't think I actually own the lovely characters (but you can keep assuming that if you want to; I don't mind.)  
  
Next goes to Deplora, who reviewed every single chapter and kept encouraging me through the awesome Squffielove community pingpong867 started on Livejournal. You're a great writer and an even better friend, and thanks so much!  
  
Then to all of the reviewers who took their time out to leave an encouraging comment or two:  
  
Snowri (who rules!), Anime-Master7, Natsumi Akimoto (sorry I couldn't put this up sooner; I was busy all yesterday!), Sqully, DemonSurfer, SummonerMomo, Doomboy2000, Fantacdreamer, Aoi-butterfly, Emrelle Elendal, SetsuntaMew, My Best Friend and Queen of Carbuncle Land (for real!), Marilda24, Skeledude 12, Z.A.G., BlueEyedDemon1, kelsey feret (another of my best friends), Taryn , Viktor Mayrin, Natsu-Aoki (another cool Squffielove person), Wingaurd, himaco (yet another cool Squffielove person), Dark Witch the Demented Angel, Beckette, Lerielle, Annjirika, pingpong867 (founder of Squffielove and very cool person), Cmdr. Defiance Nighthawk, bituin, and Vixen2004.  
  
Finally, to whoever is reading this now, be you a previous reviewer or a newbie, because you took the time to check out my work.  
  
Just an overall Thank You to everyone again, if you read just for the plushies, the Guess the Blonde Contest, or the Squiffie, you made it worth it. Hope to see everyone again when I venture out once more into the realm of Squiffiedom!  
  
_--Ellyrianna_


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